A Fox's Tale
by Lostmydragon
Summary: What happens when Subitusion and Mind Transfer jutsus collide? Hinata is about to find out and the result may bring her closer to Naruto, but can the effect be reversed?
1. Chapter 1

_LMD here, a new story at last._

_This is just a concept of an idea I've had in my head for over a year. Let me know if you like it enough for me to continue it _

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**A Fox's Tale**

The sun shone over the shinobi village of Konoha, it was a good day and many of the inhabitants of the city took advantage of it. Picnics in the park, yard work and in the cases of some of the residents, training.

The Rookie Nine, as they were called by senior shinobi, gathered in one of the many training grounds outside the village, joining them was team Gai. The chuunin exams were over and only one of their group had passed, Shikamaru. Because of this the other genin picked up the pace on their training. They would pass next time.

"Let's see, who's next then?" Shikamaru asked rummaging in a bag. The genin had been taking it in turns to spar with each other, Chouji and Lee and just finished and both boys lay on the grass to catch their breath. To chose partners each genin had taken a number, Shikamaru would then choose numbers from his bag to pair up the teams. "we have... number three..."

"That's me" Ino held up the scrap of paper with the number on it. Shikamaru nodded and reached back into the bag.

"And number eight, who is that?"

"Um, that's me" the timid girl rose her hand.

"Okay, Ino versus Hinata." Shikamaru confirmed and returned the bag to his feet before sitting back against the tree behind him.

Ino and Hinata moved down the slope into the open ground away from the other genin.

"Ready?" Ino asked stretching her arms. Hinata gulped and nodded. Both girls got into their fighting stances, Hinata activated her Byukugan. Hinata was a close range fighter whereas Ino was more suited to long range with support from her teammates so if Hinata got too close she would be in trouble. However, Ino had a plan.

Meanwhile Hinata was thinking along the same lines, she had to get close to Ino and quickly, then again she didn't really know what Ino's tai jutsu was like. The fight was started.

Hinata ran forward closing the distance between the two girls quicker than Ino had expected, the blond hopped to the side but Hinata swung around and stuck at her arm. The hit connected, Ino was caught off guard. Hinata twisted around to face her and tried to hit again but Ino had pulled out a dulled kunai and jabbed at Hinata's arm, forcing her to withdraw. Ino threw down a smoke bomb and jumped away. Hinata coughed to clear her throat, using her Byukugan she found Ino again a little behind her through the smoke. Hinata tried to turn to chase her but her foot was caught on something. Looking down she saw a gooy mass around her feet, it was sticky and held her in place. A sticky bomb. Hinata tried furiously to free her feet while Ino smirked. The blond formed a hand sign and lined it up with the trapped Hinata who started a series of hand signs as she tried to pull off a substitution.

"Mind transfer jutsu" Ino said smugly. She slumped to her knees and Hinata stopped struggling. After a moment Hinata straightened up and swept her hair out of her eyes. She looked up the hill with a very un-Hinata like grin, holding up two fingers in a V she said loudly.

"Mind transfer successful"

"Ino won then. Here, use this on her feet." Shikamaru tossed a small bottle of blue liquid, Ino-Hinata pulled off the lid and dumped the liquid around Hinata's feet. The sticky goo sizzled as the blue liquid ate away at it leaving the skin unharmed. Ino rotated Hinata's arms for a second, then formed another handsign.

"Release" Ino, back in her own body, stood up. "Good fight Hinata" Hinata stared blankly at the blond for a moment then she just fell forward with no attempt to stop herself, nor did she move.

"Hinata!" Kiba darted down the hill followed by the rest of the genin. "What happened?"

"I dunno, that's never happened before" Ino responded.

"Hey Hinata" Sakura shook the girl gently but got no response. "I think we should get her to the hospital." the others agreed and the small puppy whined. As the genin left another victim of the clashing jutsus lay unconscious in the bushes.

* * *

"She hasn't woke up?" Kiba asked, the doctor shook his head.

"Nope, she appears to be in a coma." the doctor looked at the chart, a confused expression on his face. "There doesn't seem to be a cause for it..."

"Ino has gone to her father to ask about this. If its something to do with the jutsu he would know" Shikamaru explained.

"Well when she gets back tell her to come to me." the doctor put the chart at the end of the bed and left, still looking baffled.

"Maybe it was just a shock to her system..." Sakura suggested with a shrug.

"Visiting hours are ending" A nurse poked his head in the door and started to shoo the genin out the door.

"Well maybe she'll wake up in a few hours." Naruto suggested as the left the hospital.

"It's getting late, I'm going to head home. We'll check in again in the morning." Tenten pointed over her shoulder towards her house. The others agreed and they all went their separate ways.

* * *

The morning sun played across Hinata's face. Her head was throbbing, she didn't know that Ino's technique would hit so hard. She opened her eyes expecting to see Neji leering over her echoing her fathers disapproval. She was alone and in a bush. Why was she a bush? Hinata pushed herself up on her hands. Her head was killing her. There was a puddle nearby. She pulled herself over to the water and tried to splash some on her face but when she looked into the reflective surface she got a shock. It wasn't her looking back, the face was small and furry with wide brown eyes, pointed ears and little white whiskers. A fox was looking at her, why was a fox looking at her? The fox in the puddle prodded its face with its paw, the same as Hinata had just done. Hinata let out a shout. The fox in the puddle yelped. Hinata looked back at her body, her clothes were not there, only a furry little body with a bushy tail.

She was in shock. She was a fox. How was this possible? She needed to get help. Hinata pushed herself up on all four of her paws and poked her head out from under the bush. The training ground was empty.

"_Where is everyone?" _Hinata thought to herself. She tried to jog towards the village but she fell as she tripped over her own paws, it was harder than it looked to run on four legs. Taking a moment to get used to her unusual body she walked slowly up the hill. When she became more confident, sped up into a trot. Nearing the gate Hinata began to wonder what could be done to help her, and who could even do it.

"_I guess I should try and find one of my friends..."_ Hinata thought as she peeked her head around the gate. The streets were full of people going about their daily business, she would have to be careful with her small size now it would be easy to be stepped on.

A familiar bark sounded nearby. Hinata looked around and saw Kiba and Akamaru. With a surge of relief the little fox trotted inside the gate towards her friends. The puppy was charging towards her still barking. Hinata's smile faded, the dog was attacking.

"_It's me. Akamaru!" _Hinata shouted but all she did was yap at the dog. Hinata turned on her tail and ran back out the gate as the dog pursued the fox.

"Akamaru! Leave it alone!" Kiba shouted as he ran after the two animals.

Hinata ran back to the training grounds, thinking she could lose the dog in the thick under brush in the forest. As she jumped around a tree her back paws clipped the roots. She was still not used to this body. Falling on her stomach she tried to get up but Akamaru pounced on top of her and bit her front paw. Hinata let out a loud yelp. Akamaru released her paw and baring his teeth leant into attack again. Two hands grabbed the puppy and yanked him upwards away from the small fox. Kiba held the struggling dog over his head.

"Akamaru! What are you doing chasing a fox?" the dog whined.

"What's going on?" Kiba turned around to see team seven. They had seen Kiba sprinting after the puppy and came to make sure he was okay. Sakura had asked the question, Naruto was beside her and behind them, not looking interested at all was Sasuke.

"Just stopping Akamaru mauling a fox." Kiba said and stepped aside to let the others see the creature. Hinata had pushed herself up against the tree, her ears were flat against her head, her little heart was beating fit to burst. She was terrified.

"Oh, Any news on Hinata?" Sakura asked changing the topic.

"_Me?"_ Hinata twitched her ears to listen.

"No change. She's still in the coma..." Kiba said sadly.

"_I'm in a coma?"_

"Ino's dad said they never heard of their mind transfer jutsu cause a coma like that before. The doctors don't know what to do."

"I'm sorry to hear that..." Sakura said.

"I'm sure she'll be okay, Hinata always seems to bounce back" Naruto stated confidently. Hinata's heart swelled at his announcement. He was so sure of her.

"_I'm right here. Can't you hear me?" _

The teens looked down at the fox as it barked at them.

"What's wrong with that fox?" Sakura asked looking at the small creature. Naruto crouched down and looked at the fox closely, Hinata stared into his eyes, willing him to understand, shouting mentally for him to recognise her.

"It's paw is hurt." He told the others. Hinata whined as he looked away, they couldn't understand her.

"Akamaru must have got a bite in..." Kiba said guiltily. Naruto reached towards the fox, "Wait, that thing is wild, it might bite you." Kiba exclaimed.

"It doesn't look feral..." Sasuke added as he looked over at the fox.

"But it's hurt. We can't leave it here. Isn't your sister a vet." Naruto looked up at Kiba.

"Well yeah but..." he was cut off as the small fox crept forward and prodded Kiba's foot with its uninjured paw.

"Looks like it knows we wanna help." Sakura sounded surprised.

"Alright then, that settles it. To the vet." Naruto said, he reached over and picked up the fox. It's whole body tensed as he touched it. He tucked the fox into the crook of his arm, it sat there shivering. Hinata had always wanted to be in Naruto's arms, but this was not the way she pictured it.

"Pft, you waste time on that if you want, I'm going to the training ground." Sasuke scowled and spun around to stalk away. Sakura wished Naruto luck and bounced after Sasuke.

"Lets go then." Kiba and Naruto started to walk back to the village. Hinata continued to tremble in Naruto's arms. What was she going to do, none of them could understand her little barks and squeaks, not even Akamaru, but that was wishful thinking in the first place.

The little fox let out a long whine, this was going to be a bad day.

_End chapter one_

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_I had this idea about a year and a half ago but i wanted to finish my running story first._

_I hope you enjoy it._

_If enough people like it i will continue, so review :)_


	2. Chapter 2: The Fox and the Pound

_Seems a lot of people liked the idea, well i'll continue then ^.^_

_Enjoy_

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**The Fox and the Pound**

Kiba led the way down the street towards his sisters vet office. Akamaru trotted beside him casting looks to the shivering lump in Naruto's arms.

"Still can't believe it let you pick it up..." Kiba muttered glancing at the fox. It had its head buried in its tail and was whimpering quietly.

"Guess I'm just good with animals" Naruto shrugged and getting a better grip on the creature. Hinata on the other hand was terrified. She couldn't think what to do and the fact that was being carried by Naruto made it worse, if she didn't have fur she'd be red anyway from the embarrassment. She had to think of a way to find out what had happened. By the sounds of it her body was in the hospital, in a coma but she was here... How was that possible. Her train of thought was interrupted as Kiba exclaimed.

"We're here." He nodded to a sign in the shape of a dog pointing into a wide door. "Nee-chan?" he called looking in the door.

"Yes?" Kiba's sister popped her head around the door to the back room.

"Are you busy?"

"Not really, I've just finished feeding the animals. Why? Did you push Akamaru too much in training again?" She asked walking into the reception wiping her hands dry.

"No... it's just that we ...erm" Kiba looked over at Naurto.

"We found this fox, its hurt." Naruto finished and held out the fox. Hana put down the towel and walked closer to the boys. She glanced over the little fox then looked at its paw.

"That looks like a bite..." she muttered to herself then glanced at Akamaru, who whined guiltily. "Alright bring it through" she turned on her heel and went to the back of the clinic. The boys followed.

"Okay," Hana said as she pulled on a set of rubber gloves, "Put it down on the table there." Naurto set the fox down on the steel examination table. The small animal tried to hide in its tail and continued to shiver.

"Hold it tightly, it might try to jump away." Hana instructed. Naruto gripped the fox on either side as Hana lifted the injured paw. She cleaned the wound and wrapped it tightly in a bandage after clipping away fur from around the cut skin. She only recoiled once as the fox yelped loudly and tried to wriggle out of Naurto's hands. Once the paw was dealt with Hana began to check for general health. Checking eyes, ears, mouth and weight.

"Seems to be in good health except for some fleas and the foot." Hana concluded. "You're very friendly for a fox aren't you?" she scratched the fox on the head as it whimpered.

"So it will be alright then?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, its foot will be healed in a week or so and we can release her back into the wild." Hana explained, she fetched a flea treatment and dabbed it between the fox's shoulder blades.

"Her?"

"Yip, it's a young vixen. You don't really see many foxes in this area anymore." Hana lifted the still shivering fox and placed it into a cage with a bowl of water. Once the fox was closed in the cage the three of them went back through to the reception of the clinic. Hinata waited for them to go. She felt humiliated after the examination. Once she was alone in the room she padded to the front of the cage to check the lock. It was a simple drop catch, all she would have to do was lift the metal catch and push the door. Hinata squished her face against the bars as she tried to reach for the catch. The problem was that she could only just reach with her injured paw and it was painful to grip the catch between her fuzzy toes.

"_Come on!" _she strained to reach and prodded the latch. Finally it flicked up. _"Yes!" _once it was up she pushed her weight against the door and it swung open. Hinata paused at the edge of the cage, it was only four foot off the ground, but Hinata was barely a foot tall now.

"Hey, Where do you think you're going?" Hinata looked up, Hana had come back into the room. She tried to jump off the cage and make a run for it but Hana caught her by the scruff of the neck.

"_No, please let me go!"_ Hinata wriggled in the vet's grip.

"Easy girl. Calm down" Hana was surprised that the fox didn't growl or snap at her. For a wild animal it was very tame. "How did you get out anyway?" She was sure she'd closed the cage and it was a drop catch, it locked automatically once the door was closed. "come on, back in you go" Hana put the squirming fox back into the cage and closed the door, making sure it locked this time. She returned to the examination table to clean it and clear up before going for lunch. All the while the fox watched her, with its snout leaning on the bars. The other animals in the surrounding cages where either asleep or calling for attention, but the fox just stared. It tried to escape again when she opened the cage to feed it later that day but Hana caught it again before it could run out the door. Same as before it didn't bite or growl it just whined. When she put some cooked chicken in the cage for the little fox, it didn't hesitate as other wild animals would but devoured it.

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"I think it was a pet." Hana told her receptionist.

"You think?" the man asked.

"Yeah, it's too calm to be wild, its used to being handled by humans. Maybe it was abandoned once it got past it's cub stage."

"Could be, but if that's the case we can't release it. It won't be able to look after itself."

"That's what I was thinking. But what can we do with it?" there was a loud thump and a yelp from the next room. Hana looked in to find the fox had escaped again, but in jumping from the cage had hurt its paw.

"Now I'm sure it can open that cage." Hana and her receptionist caught the limping fox and instead put the fox in an animal carrying case with a firmer lock.

"What are we going to do with you?" she tutted to the fox.

Hinata couldn't help but shout out as she landed heavily on her hurt paw. The door opened and there was Kiba's sister. The woman caught her again and put her in a carry case. This had four stiff twist knobs holding each corner of the door in place. Hinata could only reach two and they were too stiff for her turn, she wasn't strong enough. Finally she gave up and lay down. Her leg was throbbing and really itchy. She continued to watch the everyday workings of the Vet clinic. With her escape route blocked off Hinata curled up on the newspaper lining the carrier to think.

Ino had used her Mind Transfer jutsu on Hinata. If she understood how it worked then Hinata should have been lost control of her body for a short while, not been forced from it. Hinata wrapped her tail around herself and set her head on it to think about this. Then it hit her.

The substitution! She had been mid-way through a substitution jutsu. Perhaps when Ino entered her body it was held in place but her mind still switched with the target of the substitution. So she was here, while her body was empty.

But what could she do to tell people about it. She was a fox, and foxes couldn't speak.

Hinata groaned to herself. What was she going to do? Kiba's sister had said it would take a week for her paw to heal. So she'd be stuck here while her body lay in hospital. Even if she could make people understand her how could she get back into her own body. Hinata was on the verge of crying. She didn't know what to do. In her confusion Hinata drifted off to sleep.

* * *

A sudden jerk woke her the next morning, she slid to the back of the box as it was lifted from the ground. Hinata tried to get a grip but the smooth plastic under the newspaper offered no secure footing and her claws scrabbled uselessly. Finally the box evened out and Hinata wedged her four paws in the four corners of the box as it bobbed. Once she was steady Hinata looked out the cage door. From what she could see who ever was carrying the box was walking down the main street of Konoha. Hinata tried to look out the small gaps along the edges but she couldn't see very well without risking losing her balance. She let out a loud whine hoping whoever was carrying the box would look in on her, but they didn't. They turned off the main street to an area Hinata didn't recognise and still they walked on. Eventually the person carrying the box turned into an apartment building and up a flight of stairs. Pausing briefly outside a door it opened to a small one room apartment. The box was lifted onto the bed and the person who'd carried her here crouched down in front of the box to look at her.

"Hello there, welcome to your new home."

"_Naruto!"_ Hinata felt like her heart would explode as the blond grinned at her. _"What do you mean 'new home'?"_she asked forgetting she could only bark. Naruto took her barks for excitement and grinned. He reached up and opened the carrier cage and leant back. Hinata took a step outside the box to look around. Behind the bed was a window but it was closed. A small kitchen was opposite the bed with a cooker and small fridge and in the middle of the room was a kitchen table with one chair, a wardrobe was on the left wall next to a small door that Hinata assumed led to the bathroom.

A rattle of a plastic bag made her look around. Naruto was rummaging in a plastic bag on the table. He pulled out a brush with thick stiff bristles, two small plastic bowls and a collar.

"_Oh no..." _Hinata thought. Naruto had adopted her as a 'pet'. The boy poured water into one of the bowls and set it on the floor next to the sink, he put the second bowl down too but left it empty for the moment. While he worked with that Hinata crawled fully out of the box, she clambered up on the windowsill and looked out side, they were on the top floor so escaping from this window was not an option. She felt something run down her back, looking over she saw that Naruto had come back over to the bed and had run his hand down her spine. Naruto scooped up the little fox and set her on his knee. Hinata couldn't move she didn't know what do to and before she could think he had lifted the pet brush and started bushing her fur. At first Hinata tried to wriggle away from him but after a few strokes of the brush she just lay down and let him. The brush was soft and every time it swept over her back it gave her a little surge of pleasure. For that she blamed her new body. She started to doze off as Naruto continued to brush dirt out of her fur. After a while he stopped brushing and scratched her head. If she'd been a cat she would have been purring.

"There, that's a bit better now isn't it?" Naruto said and put the brush aside. Hinata looked back at her body, her fur looked softer and had a shine to it. She gave a yap of approval. "What am I gonna call you though?" Naruto pondered. Hinata rolled off his knee and sat up in the bed next to him, she wrapped her bushy tail around her legs.

"Well Kiba's sister said you were a girl so..." he rubbed his chin, Hinata cocked her head at him while he thought.

"How about... Sakura." he suggested.

"_You're joking." _the fox whined and its ears dropped flat to its head. Naruto chuckled,

"Alright then how about...erm...Vixen. Yeah that will do." He reached over and scratched her head again. Hinata wanted to groan, then again she didn't love him for his creativity. Naruto pulled out the collar and fastened it around her neck. Not sure how to react she pulled her head back and there was a slight jingle as a small bell bumped against her chest. Naruto chuckled as she shook her head and the little bell chimed.

"You really are a good little fox, aren't you?" he asked as he stroked her back, Hinata nudged his hand with her head. He chuckled and scratched her chin with his other hand. She couldn't help but enjoy the sensation of her back getting scratched. Now she knew why Akamaru would nudge her hand wanting to be petted. Her ears perked up as Naruto's stomach rummbled.

"Hmm, looks like it's time for lunch, what do you think Vixen?" Naruto pausing in his petting, his stomach growl reminded Hinata that she hadn't eaten since the bit of chicken yesterday. She hopped off Naurto's lap and trotted over to the empty food bowl, hoping he would get the hint.

"You're hungry too huh?" she barked in agreement. "okay." Naruto returned to the table and pulled a tin from the plastic bag.

"Kiba said this stuff should do for you." he showed her a tin of dog food. Hinata wrinkled her nose as he opened it and dumped it in her bowl. She sniffed at it curiously, it smelt horrible, but she was not 'that' hungry. Naruto on the other hand made himself an instant ramen cup. He sat at the table and prodded it to loosen the noodles. Hinata hopped onto his lap and onto the table. She pawed at the cup but Naruto lifted her back down to the floor. He tapped her on the snout giving off a hollow pop.

"No Vixen, You're not allowed on the table." Hinata rubbed her nose with her paw, that had hurt. Naruto started to eat his noodles. She tried to think, what was it that Akamaru did when he wanted some of what she was eating? She reared up on her hind legs and put a paw on his leg then looked up at Naruto with the widest eyes she could muster.

"Don't look at me like that..." Naruto said, pausing in his meal. Hinata set her head on his lap and let out a long heartfelt whine. He sighed and blew on his noodles to cool them down, then handed them down to the little fox. Hinata grinned to herself, it had worked. She snapped up the noodles as Naruto let them drop across her muzzle. She ducked her head and let the noodles fall onto her tongue, then licked the sauce off her snout. Naruto chuckled at her and dropped down another few noodles, which she happily ate. After lunch Naruto gave her a quick pet as he headed to the door.

"I've got to go train for a while. See you when I get back Vixen" with that he left.

Hinata scurried to the door, it was closed tight and she couldn't reach the door knob. Turning she hurried to the bed and clambered up on the windowsill. She could see Naruto heading over the roof tops. Checking the window she saw it was held closed by a lever locked in place by a button. This button was too stiff for her to press in fully even with her full weight. She felt very small and weak in this body.

"_Well I can't sit here all day..." _she thought to herself. _"maybe I can do some training of my own." _Hinata looked around the small apartment. She would use this time to see what her tiny body could do. After stretching she jumped from the windowsill to the floor, she misjudged the height and hit her chin on the floor.

"_Ow... damn" _Hinata shook her head and stood up again, _"Lets try this again."_

Hinata spent the rest of the day practising running and jumping as the fox. Once Naruto opened the door she would make a break for it and head to the hospital. Maybe if she got close to her body she could somehow make things right. By the time evening came she was a lot more confident about what her body could do. She lapped up water from her bowl as the door finally opened. She ran around the corner but before she could run out she looked up at Naruto. He looked miserable and exhausted, when he saw her he smiled wearily. Hinata's heart clenched, she couldn't bare to leave him alone in this state. Instead she sat down and waited for him to take off this shoes and close the door.

"Hey, what have you been doing all day?" Naruto asked and scooped up the fox. Hinata gave a quiet bark as Naruto put her down on the bed. He sat down heavily next to her and she was tossed a little into the air. Naruto chuckled as she protested at the sudden surprise. He lay on his back and reach up to pet the fox.

She just sat there looking at him with her big brown eyes while he rubbed her head. He lay there for a while just stroking her, a lot seemed to be his mind. He was still for so long that Hinata nudged his arm with her head.

"Oh am I neglecting you?" he chuckled and sat up again, he rubbed his neck and sighed. "I'm tired Vixen..." he told the fox. He refilled Hinata's water bowl and checked there was some food left.

"Time for bed I think..." he muttered and started to undress. Hinata ran under the bed and hid her eyes until he had fully changed into his pyjamas, then he fished her out from under the bed. Using one of his old t-shirts he created a pillow and placed it into the carrier case for the fox to sleep in. Hinata had moved up to the windowsill as Naruto shuffled around locking up for the night and turning off the light. Finally he pulled his quilt back and climbed into bed. He watched the fox at the window for a moment then sleep took him.

Hinata stayed on the windowsill for a little while after Naruto fell asleep. She watched the lights go out one by one in the apartments around them, then shifted to look at the boy in the bed. He had looked so miserable when he came home, but his face had lit up when he saw her sitting there. Was he really so happy to have a little fox waiting for him to come home? She knew that he was an orphan but she'd never seen it bother him. It was rare that he didn't have his goofy grin on his face. Looked like when he was home alone, he let his front down, there was no one here to act for. Only his little pet fox, who wasn't going to judge him. Maybe she could stay a little longer.

* * *

She hopped down from the windowsill and trotted over to the carry cage, the old t-shirt gave some much needed padding to the bottom of the cage. Hinata kneaded the t-shirt to spread out the lumps and curled up. The t-shirt still smelt like Naruto. It didn't take long for her to fall asleep either.

Over the next few days Hinata began to enjoy being a pampered pet. Naruto would wake in the morning and after breakfast and feeding Hinata he would go to training. He would return at lunch and play with her for a short while then return to finish the days training. In the evening he would play with her a little more then brush her before going to bed. It was a simple life, she no longer had to worry about her father or missions, all she had to do was cheer up the boy she admired so much. It was great to be so close to him with out having to stumble on her words or even speak at all.

"Vixen? Where did you go?" Naruto called the fox one morning. Hinata stretched and yawned loudly, she had fallen asleep on the windowsill behind the curtains. She peeked around them and yapped at Naruto.

"There you are. You want to go for a walk?" Naruto lent on the bed to reach her. Hinata barked happily and jumped to the ground. "I'll take that as a yes."

Naruto walked to the front door and opened it, as soon as it was wide enough Hinata darted outside.

"Vixen!" Naruto called and ran outside, the fox was waiting for him at the top of the stairs to the street, her tail flicking with impatience.

"I thought you ran off on me there." Naruto muttered and closed the door to his apartment. It was his day off and he have no real plans, but he fancied getting some proper ramen, that and it was time to go to Hana and get Vixen's paw checked. The fox had stopped limping a few days ago and it didn't seem to be annoyed by the paw anymore.

Naruto walked lazily down the street heading for the Vet's clinic, Hinata trotted beside him, her little bell jingling in time. This was the first time she got outside since Naruto 'adopted' her. The wind on her fur was pleasant. She could smell Koren BBQ even though she knew the nearest restaurant that sold that was four streets away. Maybe this was the enhanced sense of smell Kiba kept talking about. Hinata got distracted by a bit of food that had been dropped on the ground, it was in a wrapper and she couldn't see it but after a few sniffs she knew that it was dango.

"Vixen." Hinata looked up, while she was testing out her sense of smell Naruto had walked on to the end of the street. Hinata left the dango where it was and ran after the boy. It didn't take them long to get to the clinic.

"Okay lets have a look see." Hana beckoning Naruto into the back room, "Put her up on the table." Naruto tapped his fingers on the table, Hinata took this cue and jumped up on to the table.

"You've got it trained already?" Hana chuckled and lifted the fox's paw.

"I think you where right about it being a pet before, she settled by the end of the first day and she lets me handle her." Naruto explained.

"Well she does look a lot healthier." Hana commented and finished unwrapping the bandage. "Her paw is pretty much healed too."

"That's good." Naruto scratched Hinata on the head, she gave a little bark in reply. There was a knock at the door.

"Come in", Hana called.

"Nee-chan, you forgot some of your paperwork at home, Mum sent me over with it." Kiba said as he poked his head in the door. "Hey is that the fox we found?" Kiba came in to the room to get a better look at the creature.

"Yeah," Naurto told him, Akamaru bounded into the room and started barking and growling at the fox.

"_Not again!" _Hinata yelped and jumped up onto Naruto's shoulders.

"Akamaru!"Kiba shouted and tried to grab the puppy but the dog jumped on to Naruto and knocked him over. Hinata jumped from Naruto onto a filing cabinet nearby. She sat there out of reach of the dog and watched it jump at her. Kiba ran over and grabbed Akamaru and hit him on the nose.

"Stop that! Bad dog!" he sat the puppy down and he whined at being hit. "Are you okay Naruto?" he asked and reached down to pull the blonde to his feet.

"I'm fine" she answered rubbing his head. "What about you Vixen?" the little fox whimpered as it still watched Akamaru.

"You called it Vixen? Not very creative..." Kiba muttered.

"She seems to like it." Naurto replied and lifted the fox down from the cabinet, "If I put her down will Akamaru attack again?"

"No he won't" Kiba assured him with a stern glare at the dog. "I was going to get some lunch want to join me?" Kiba offered.

"Sure. Thanks for helping Vixen" Naruto added to Hana as the two boys left, Hana just smiled and went to sort the paperwork Kiba had brought. Outside Naruto put Hinata down and Akamaru stalked over. She got ready to run just in case but the puppy just sniffed at her for a moment. The dog barked at her and reared up on his back paws and pushed Hinata over.

"Hey!" Naruto protested but Kiba stopped him,

"Akamaru just wants to play" He chuckled. The puppy barked and bounced back wagging its tail and Hinata thought,

"_Why not?"_ the dog and the fox chased each other around the street and play fought while the boys headed for the ramen stand. The boys talked about random things for a while including the latest issue of their favourite manga and new jutsus but eventually the topic they tried to avoid came up.

"So no news?" Naruto asked grimly.

"Nothing..." Kiba stared into the soup of his meal. "There's still no sign of life from Hinata." At the sound of her name Hinata stopped tumbling with the puppy and looked up. Kiba's face was stony. "They've tried everything they can but still nothing..." he continued and prodded his noodles. Hinata jumped up on the empty stool next to her teammate and whined at him. He reached over and absently petted her.

"Is there nothing else they can do..." Naruto asked, his hands where clenched on his lap.

"No, and they told us if there is no improvement by the end of the week..." Kiba stopped there he scowled at his food as if it had somehow wronged him.

Hinata felt a sudden prang of guilt. She was too busy enjoying being a fox and being with Naruto that she didn't even think about how her friends must be feeling. Kiba and Shino must be worried sick as well as Kurnei sensei. The boys finished their meals and headed their separate ways. Hinata walked behind Naruto back to his apartment and curled up on his bed. He tried to tempt her to play by rolling a little ball across the floor. Normally she would bat it back to the boy but tonight she wasn't in the mood to play. She just lay on the bed and whined when ever Naruto tried to coax her.

"You can pick up on it huh?" Naruto said that night as he climbed into bed. "Guess everyone is worried about Hinata..." He lifted her up and tucked her into the carrier box.

Hinata crawled out of the carrier box that was her bed and hopped up next to Naruto, she nudged his face and curled up next to his head on the pillow. She wanted to be closer to him tonight, because tomorrow she would have to stop pretending.

* * *

The next morning Naruto went off to his training as usual leaving Hinata alone in his flat. She sat on her spot at the windowsill and looked around, she had to find away to tell Naruto it was her in this body. On a high shelf on the right hand wall was a number of scrolls and text books as well as a few brushes and ink.

"_That's it!" _ she thought. Hinata bounded off the bed, hurried across the floor and jumped onto the kitchen counter, from here she climbed to the top of the fridge. Lining herself up with the shelf she jumped and just made it. Her claws dug into the wall and the shelf so she could pull herself up. A number of books were knocked to the ground.

"_oops"_ Hinata pushed things aside with her front paws and nose until she found and empty scroll and an ink pot. She knocked the scroll to the ground, where it bounced and rolled under the bed. Frowning she lifted the ink pot between her jaws and leapt lightly back to the ground. Hinata set the pot down and pulled the cork out with her little teeth, it was hard since it was jammed in tightly. When the pot was open she fetched the empty scroll from under the bed and picked it open with her claws. After pushing out a long length of the scroll she dipped her paw into the ink and smeared it on the page.

"I'm home!" Naruto called as he came back for lunch. "What the..." He looked at the inky paw prints on his floor and then to the little fox holding a scroll in her mouth. On the dangling paper in messy handwriting was, 'I am Hinata'.

End of chapter 2

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_Remember to review ^.^_


	3. Chapter 3: the Fox is out of the Bag

_Sorry it took so long, but i recently got a new job and its been hell getting used to being in a call centre again._

_here you go, enjoy_

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**The Fox is Out of The Bag**

Naruto stared at the fox. Hinata set down the scroll and barked at him.

"What?" Naruto lifted the paper and looked at it closely, there was inky paw prints around the text and there was ink on on Vixen's front paw. "This can't be true." He cast his eyes around the flat to see if there was any signs of entry. This had to be a joke, and a tasteless one at that. He walked to the window to check it. On the table behind him the fox growled and barked.

"Vixen?" it was the first time the fox had growled at all. "You wrote this?" His jaw dropped as the fox plainly nodded. "You just nodded!" again the fox bobbed its head. Naruto darted back to the table and spread out the scroll to a blank piece, he scooped up the ink pot that was open on the floor and put it next to the paper.

"Prove it." he told the fox.

"_Now we are getting somewhere!" _Hinata happily barked and dipped her paw into the pot again. Careful not to drip more ink on his table she drew out, 'Help me' on the scroll. She sat down again and looked at the shocked expression on the boys face.

"How is that possible?" Hinata cocked her head and whined, she trotted over to some paper towels and wiped the ink off her paw as best she could. Naruto had sat down at the table to think. "Well if you are Hinata, what can I do?" He finally asked her.

Hinata barked happily and leapt over to the bed and up to the windowsill, she jabbed a paw onto the glass. Naruto got up to see what she was pointing at. The Hokage tower.

"Yeah, Tsunade would know what to do." Naruto hurried to the table, rolled up the scroll and tucked it into his jacket then returned to the window. "Lets go the quick way." He picked Hinata up and tucked her safely under his arm. He opened the window and jumped out onto the room.

* * *

Naruto barged into the hokages office despite Shizune's protests. Tsuande looked up at him with a scowl at being interrupted. Next to the hokage's desk was a dark haired woman in an ANBU uniform, she had grey eyes with slit irises and a scar running vertically over her right eye, on her biceps were panther tattoos. The woman rose her eyebrow at the loud blonde with the fox under his arm.

"What is it Naruto?" Tsunade snapped.

"I er... I know what's wrong with Hinata." he said. Tsunade looked at him for a moment then turned to the other woman.

"I'll let you get back to work Takara." The ANBU commander nodded and left. Hinata watched her go and couldn't help but feel she knew that woman. (_Authors note: shameless OC cameo ^.^)_

"This had better be good Naruto." Tsunade rubbed her head. "So tell me, why hasn't the Hyuuga girl woken up?"

"Because she's here." Naruto held up the fox. Tsunade started at him for a while, Hinata whined, this wasn't going to work.

"Naruto, that's a fox"

"No, it's really Hinata." Tsunade stood up and stared to push Naruto out of her office. Hinata dug her head into Naruto's jacket, pulled out the scroll and wriggled out of his grip she scurried to Tsuande's desk and scratched it open. She held the scroll up like she did in Naruto's flat.

"See!" Naruto pointed at the fox. Tsuande scowled at the animal on her desk. "Ask her something" Tsunade pffted and let the boy go.

"Fine," turning to the fox after a withering glance at the boy she asked, "Are you Hinata?" The fox dropped the scroll and nodded. Tsunade rose her eyebrow, she glanced at the blond.

"Is this a joke?" she demanded of the boy.

"No, here" Naruto trotted to the desk and rolled out the scroll already covered with paw prints. Hinata got the hint dipped her paw in Tsunade's ink well and smeared it on the scroll to spell out 'told you'. She paused and looked up and the stunned hokage.

"How?" she stuttered while looking at Naruto, he shrugged but Hinata barked then rolled out more paper. She left a number of ink blots on the table as she scribbled with her paw. She finally stepped back and barked.

Tsuande lifted the scroll, in thick clumsy writing was,

'Substitution + mind transfer'

"You were doing a substitution jutsu when Ino got you with her mind transfer?" Tsunade asked Hinata, the fox again nodded.

"Then why did it take you so long to tell us? You been in that coma for five days." Tsunade asked, Hinata squirmed slightly, she couldn't say she was enjoying herself. She reached up and prodded the scroll, the hokage put it down so the fox could write again.

'Confused'

"You didn't know what was going on until now?" Naruto asked, she shook her head and whined.

"I find this very hard to believe..." Tsunade muttered and sank into her chair the fox on her desk rolled its eyes.

"_How do you think I feel?" _

"What do we do?" Naruto asked. Tsunade clasped her fingers together to think.

"Well since Hinata's mind has been displaced I think we should ask the Yamanaka clan. Naruto I want you to go get Inoichi and Ino too. We should at least let her know that Hinata is alright." Naruto nodded left, Hinata moved to follow him.

"Hinata, I want you to stay here for now. Here clean your hand... erm paw." Tsunade pulled a box of tissues from her drawer and set it on the desk. Hinata pulled out a few tissues with her mouth and rubbed her paw as best she could on the tissue.

"I'm giving orders to a fox..." Tsunade watched her struggle for a moment then she lifted a few new tissues and helped the fox clean off the ink.

"Why won't you tell us what this is about?" Ino asked. Her father walked behind them, he wanted to know too.

"I really don't know how to explain it..." Naruto rubbed his neck and lead the way to the office. When they entered the office Tsunade looked worried and there was a small fox perched on the end of the desk, its' tail twitched restlessly. Naruto walked over to the hokage's desk, the fox yapped at him. Ino and Inoichi stood in front of the hokage.

"I have an update regarding Hinata." Tsunade said.

"She's awake?" Ino asked,

"In a manner of speaking." relief flashed over Ino's face while her father just frowned.

"In a manner of speaking?" Inoichi queried. Tsunade sighed and Naruto looked uncomfortable.

"Hinata's body is not responding because her mind is elsewhere."

"Elsewhere?" Ino looked sidelong to her father.

"What we didn't know before was that Hinata was partway through a substitution jutsu when you used your mind transfer." Tsunade continued.

"How did you find this out?" Inoichi asked.

"Hinata told us..." Tsunade told them and cleared her throat.

"Where is she?" Ino demanded, "Is she alright?"

"Ask the fox" Naruto said. Both the Yamanakas looked at him in confusion, even the fox looked over at him. Tsunade steeled herself for the inevitable awkwardness of what she was going to say.

"Hinata's mind appears to have ... attached ... itself to this fox." she pointed to Hinata who nodded vigorously. Ino pointed with her mouth open in disbelief, Inoichi took a moment then stepped forward to examine the little creature.

"How did she tell you?" he asked. Tsunade handed over the scroll with the messy writing.

"She wrote this in front me and Naruto." the fox nodded again. Hinata was getting tired of dumbly nodding. "But a confirmation would be nice." Inoichi agreed and formed a handsign. The fox's tail stopped twitching as the man probed her mind. After a few moments he stood up and the fox shook its head and whined.

"Well?" Tsunade prompted.

"I'm not sure how, but there is a human mind in there." he rubbed his head.

"_Finally!"_ the fox barked.

"Hinata is a fox!" Ino exclaimed.

"Can you think of a way to get her back into her body?" Tsunade asked Inoichi.

"Not right now...hmmm. I'll consult the clan records and see if anything like this has happened before."

"Do it." Inoichi bowed and left the room. "We should inform your teammates and sensei that you're alright." Hinata barked in agreement. "And your father of course." the fox jumped up and darted in front of Tsunade shaking her head. "You don't want me to tell your father?" Hinata whined, her ears flattened to her head. Tsunade had a feeling the girl had a good reason for that. "Very well, Ino I want you to fetch Kurnei, Shino and Kiba." the girl bowed and left the office.

"Now then. What are we going to do with you?" Tsunade looked Hinata who'd retreated back to the edge of the desk. "We can't have it common knowledge that one of our shinobi has been turned into a fox." the girl rubbed her snout with a front paw, the bell around her neck jingled. The door to her office flew open as Kiba charged in.

"Hinata's okay?" he demanded, Ino had told him this was about Hinata to get him here quickly. Tsunade told him to wait until the other two showed up. After another awkward explanation team 8 accepted that their teammate was fine. Kureni walked up to the fox and crouched down.

"I'm glad you are okay Hinata." The little fox barked and nudged Kurnei's arm with her head. Kiba and Shino echoed this. As they showed their concern Hinata began to feel guilty about not telling them before now.

"Inoichi is trying to find away to reverse this, but it could take some time. Until then Hinata will need somewhere to stay." Team 8 squirmed.

"My families dogs will attack her..." Kiba said and rubbed his neck.

"I don't think Hinata will be happy with my families bugs in her fur." Shino said, the fox shuddered.

"Unfortunately my apartment is being fumigated, I'm currently staying with Az...a friend." Kurnei corrected herself. Each member of team eight apologised to Hinata, she tried to shrug to show she was okay but foxes couldn't shrug.

"That settles it then, Naruto, its your job to look after Hinata while she's stuck like this." Tsunade said.

"Me?" he stammered, he was about to protest but Hinata was looking at him with her massive brown eyes and ears flat to her head. "Erm, okay I guess..." he muttered and rubbed his head.

"Assuming that's okay with you Hinata" Kurnei added, the little fox nodded.

"Well that's all for now then, we have to wait for word back from Inoichi, Dismissed." The hokage told them. They all bowed, even the fox, and left the room. Hinata trotted at their feet beside Akamaru, the little bell jingled as she walked.

The group stopped a floor down in a deserted corridor. Hinata jumped up on to a windowsill to be included in the conversation.

"This is very surreal..." Kiba said as he watched Hinata adjust her balance on the small sill.

"It is most unusual." Shino agreed, "Do you think they will beable to reverse this Kurnei-sensei?" he asked the older woman.

"Honestly I don't know. We'll just have to trust in Yamanaka." Kurnei sighed and looked down at Hinata. She crouched down to look at Hinata in the eye.

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" The fox reached forward and nudged her head under Kurnei's chin. Kurnei couldn't resist running her hand down the fox's back. Hinata didn't protest.

"Guess this explains why you refused to eat the dog food..." Naruto said.

"You fed Hinata dog food?" Kiba wrinkled up his nose.

"You told me too!" Naruto defended. "I didn't know..." Hinata gave several short sharp barks as she laughed at her friends.

"Don't hesitate to call on us if you need anything Hinata." Shino said ignoring Kiba and Naruto. Hinata bared her teeth in a strange grin. Turning her nose to the window she blew out causing a fan of condensation to form. Using a claw she wrote out 'Thanks'.

* * *

Team 8 walked with Naruto most of the way down main street. They made him promise to take good care of Hinata before they left. Hinata barked a farewell then followed Naruto back to his apartment. When he opened the door Hinata trotted inside the get a drink from her bowl. Naruto had been quiet since they left the Kage tower. He felt like a massive idiot. He had been treating Hinata like a pet, complete with baby talk. Suddenly he remembered, he had undressed without worrying about the fox. He turned bright red and dropped his head in his hands. Every time he had changed he would have to coax Vixen out from under the bed so she hadn't seen him naked, maybe. Hinata jumped up onto the table, her little bell jingling. She licked her snout as water from the water bowl clung to her fur. He glanced up at her then realised, he been brushing her with the pet brush everyday and she was completely naked. He'd been stroking her body, Naruto lifted his head slightly and banged it on the table with a groan. Hinata tilted her head in confusion as she saw his red face. He looked up at her and offered a weak grin.

"I'm sorry I treated you like an animal..." he muttered. Hinata nudged his hand with her head and barked. "Are you forgiving me?" the fox nodded. "Thanks." he smiled and petted her head.

"oh sorry... I don't know if I should do that anymore..." Hinata barked, she pointed her paw at the scroll in his pocket. He lifted it out and rolled it out. The ink bottle from earlier was still open on the table. She looked at the bottle and whined, she pointed again, this time behind his shoulder. Naruto looked over at the shelf, he went over and lifted up another ink bottle and glanced at Hinata, she shook her head. He lifted a new scroll, she shook her head. She lifted a disguarded chop stick from the table and holding it between her front paws she mimed writing.

"Oh..." Naruto lifted a brush down from the shelf and set it on the table. Hinata gripped the brush between her front paws and tried to dip it into the inkpot. Slowly she tried to write but the fur on her paws made it hard to grip the brush. She dropped the brush and Naruto giggled, she looked up and at him with her ears flat to her head.

"Sorry, but its cute..." Naruto said and rubbed his neck. Hinata couldn't pick up the brush without dropping it and splattering ink on the scroll.

"Here, let me." Naruto picked up the brush and held it out, Hinata reached her paws out, then paused, instead she gripped the brush in her teeth. With a firmer grip was was able to write without covering herself in ink.

On the paper she wrote, 'I don't mind'. Naruto smiled and rubbed her head again, she pushed against his palm enjoying the sensation. There was a sudden bang on the door. Naruto got up to answer it.

"Where were you!" Sakura bellowed as soon as he opened the door.

"What?" Naruto stammered and backed away from her raised fist. She followed him inside.

"We were supposed to do an exercise after lunch but you didn't come back!" Naruto glanced over his shoulder, the scroll on the table had been rolled up and Hinata was curled up on the bed as if she had been asleep.

"I … I was called to the hokage's office!" Naruto quickly explained backing out of reach. "I just got back"

"Why?" Sakura asked, a little calmer now and lowering her fist.

"She doesn't want me to say..." Naruto said and ducked as she rose her fist again. "I swear!"

"Alright..." Sakura muttered. "sensei told me to tell you that we'll do it in the morning instead."

"Sorry Sakura..." Naruto rubbed his neck, she sighed then noticed something behind him.

"Oh hey, is that the little fox Akamaru bit?" she stepped around him over to the bed. Hinata sat up and barked at Sakura."Will it bite me?" she asked.

"No, she's tame." Naruto said, he was a little unsure if Hinata would appreciate anyone else knowing who she was.

"Aren't you cute?" Sakura crouched down and petted the little fox. "What's her name?"

"I call her Vixen..." Naruto almost called her Hinata but caught himself.

"What do you smell?" Sakura asked as the fox sniffed at her pocket, she still had a left over mini-roll from her lunch. She unwrapped it and offered it to the fox. Hinata sniffed the treat and gobbled it up. It was a mini-cinnamon roll and she loved those. Sakura squeed and lifted the fox after it was finished the bun.

"You're keeping her then?"

"Erm, yeah." Naruto answered, he was worried that Hinata would be annoyed but she was licking the icing from her whiskers and seemed perfectly happy in Sakura's arms.

"Next you'll be trying to teach it ninjutsus like Kiba's dog." She joked, Hinata looked up at Sakura, did foxes have chakra? "Anyway, don't be late tomorrow." the pinkette threatened, she gave the fox a hug and set her back on the bed.

"I won't" Naruto promised as Sakura left. He looked down at Hinata, "You enjoyed that didn't you?" she bared her teeth in a grin.

"I suppose we won't be needing this anymore..." Naurto lifted a tin of the dog food that Hinata had refused to eat. She stuck out her tongue at the tin and closed her eyes. The boy chuckled,

"Alright then, I'll pick up something more suitable tomorrow" Hinata yapped happily.

That night Naruto tipped half of his cup ramen into Hinata's washed out bowl and moved it on to the table. The little fox jumped onto the table and settled down to eat. After eating he sat on his bed and stared out the window as usual. He felt a depression on the bed as Hinata walked over the covers. Automatically Naruto lifted the pet brush from the windowsill, after a few strokes he caught himself. Hinata looked up at him as he stopped brushing her.

"Sorry..." he muttered and put the brush down again, Hinata's ears flattened against her head, she'd been enjoying that but Naruto probably wouldn't brush her again now that he knew who she was. Instead Hinata reared back to lean her front legs on the sill and looked out the window, following Naruto's gaze towards the Kage tower. She looked between the boy and the tower, he had a grim expression on his face. She knew of his ambition to become hokage. Hinata shuffled sideways a few inches and put a paw on his hand that was resting on the sill. Naruto looked down at her and smiled.

"You think I can do it?" he asked.

"_Of course you can!" _Hinata barked loudly and flicked her tail. Naruto lifted Hinata up into his arms so he could rock himself out of the bed. Once standing he put her back down.

"Erm... I'm going to get changed..." he blushed, Hinata jumped to the ground and crawled under the bed. Naruto took off his shirt. Glancing at the bed he thought twice, lifting his pajamas he went into the small bathroom. The room was too small to change comfortably in and he ended up banging his shoulder on the wall when he over balanced while pulling up his trousers. Hinata shook her head as she heard him muttering to himself in the bathroom. Finally he came out and threw his clothes into a corner. Hinata was peeking out from under the bed as he came out, seeing he was decent she squirmed out.

"I wonder if Inoichi found anything..." Naruto muttered aloud as he crawled into bed. Hinata gave an uncertain squeak from her spot on the floor. "Don't worry Hinata, I'm sure it won't take them long to get you back in your body." He flashed his usual grin at her and felt her heart flutter. She had to admit that Naruto was taking good care of her but once she told him who she was his entire attitude towards her changed. He didn't talk random nonsense to her that night like he did before. As she thought about this her ears flattened to her head and her eyes fell to the ground.

"They'll find away." Naruto said, misreading her expression. She looked up at him with her wide eyes, he frowned and rubbed his head. "We can go visit them tomorrow afternoon if you want..." he suggested quietly. Hinata knew that she couldn't convey her real thoughts to him, for one she couldn't speak, nor could she find the courage to write it. She forced her ears to perk up and Naruto stopped frowning.

"Lets get some sleep then." the boy lay down and pulled his blanket over himself, his back was to the fox on the floor. Hinata sighed quietly to herself as she padded to the carrier box. The box seemed too small and enclosed tonight.

* * *

The next morning Naruto was woken by the sunlight on his face. He yawned widely as he rolled over, his vision was obsured by a large blur of red. Blinking to clear his eyes he sat up and looked back at his pillow. There was the small fox curled up on the edge of his pillow, sleeping soundly. For a short while he simply watched her fuzzy sides expand and shrink as she breathed. Hinata seemed to be trusting him fully with her welfare, and he really didn't know how to react to that. He had been happy to have a pet to talk to, mostly because a fox wouldn't judge him, but after finding out about the fox's real identity he felt like a fool. He'd been pouring his heart out to the little creature over the past few days and it turned out it was one of his friends. What would she think of him now? He sighed to himself and swung his legs out of the bed. The movement woke Hinata. She rose her head and yawned, showing off her teeth. With half lidded eyes she watched Naruto grab clean clothes and go into the small bathroom to change.

It didn't take long for him to get dressed and fed, as he was leaving Hinata barked and tugged at his trouser leg.

"Something wrong?" he asked looking down, She barked up at him and ran to the windowsill. Curious Naruto followed her, Hinata reared up on her hind legs, pushed on the window then looked up at the boy.

"You want the window open?" the fox bopped her head. "Okay" Naruto reached over her and opened the window allowing a cool breeze to blow through the room. Hinata sniffed at the air, her nose twitching.

"There, now I gotta go or Sakura will be pissed. I'll see you when I get back." Hinata nudged his hand with her head. He smiled and turned to jog out the front door. Hinata watched him go then stepped on to the ledge outside the window. The wind blew through her fur, it felt pleasant. The sun was shining but clouds threatened rain later in the day. Hinata looked around for something to amuse herself. The little ball she would bounce off the wall had rolled under the fridge and she couldn't reach it. Something caught her eye, glancing down she saw a fire escape on the side of the building, it would have been hidden from sight from the other side of the window.

"_I could make that jump..." _Hinata thought to herself. The scroll and ink was still on the table from the night before so she left a note so Naruto wouldn't worry.

'Going to team 8 training ground.'

"_there" _Hinata manoeuvred the brush back into the ink jar as well as she could then returned to the ledge out the window. With a few careful jumps she managed to make it to ground level. After a quick glance up to Naruto's apartment she trotted down the street towards the training grounds.

End chapter 3

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_Also went to Q-con in belfast last week, if anyone was there i was the girl selling pocky with the plush akamaru on her head ^.^_


	4. Chapter 4: Of Mice and Foxes

Sorry it took me so long, things have gone insane over here, my new job (in a call centre of course .) is driving me partly insane.

hope it was worth the wait

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**Of Mice and Foxes**

Hinata stretched and peeked around the fence at the end of the alleyway. It was early morning so the street was full of people making their way to work or school.

"Look mummy, a puppy!" a small boy trotted over to her and reached to pet her.

"No!" the child's mother snapped him up and away from Hinata, the woman kicked at her. "shoo, filthy little beast." Hinata jumped away and ran back into the alley and around the corner.

"_That was uncalled for!"_ Hinata growled lowly to herself once she hid herself behind a garbage can. It seemed not everyone thought she was cute and harmless, she'd have to be careful. Instead of returning to the main street Hinata made her way down the back alleys and through the gardens. She had a close call with a very territorial cat but got to the gate without much trouble. She scrambled up onto a fence to get a look around. The open area in front of the gate was relatively empty. Only the guards at the gate and a few people loitering around closer to the main street. She jumped down and trotted towards the gate.

"Is that a fox?" one of the guards asked looking lazily at Hinata.

"It is... What's it doing in the village I wonder..." the second guard watched the little creature slink by. They did nothing to stop her expect to chuckle at the jingle of the bell on her collar.

* * *

"Kiba, keep your guard up" Kurenai called to the boy. Kiba growled as he jumped away from Shino's bugs. Kurenai looked behind her as she heard a tinkle. A set of red furry ears were poking up from a high tuft of grass.

"You are better at stealth in your own body." Kurenai chuckled as the fox sat up and whined, her ears flattened to her head. Hinata had been second guessing her idea to visit her friends and was going to back out but the jingle of the bell gave her away. Now that she was spotted Hinata abandoned her hiding place and walked up to Kurenai's feet.

"You okay?" the woman asked. Hinata nodded and glanced to her teammates who hadn't noticed her. "What are you doing here?" there was concern on her face. Hinata scratched at the dirt to spell out 'bored'.

"Naruto at training?" again the fox nodded. Hinata settled down on the ground to watch her teammates at their training, and feeling a little annoyed that she couldn't join them. Kurenai called a halt to the sparring match between the boys to get them a break. Akamaru barked excitedly and bounded up the slope to Kurenai and ran around her feet.

"What's with you?" Kiba shouted after his dog, he found out as he neared the top of the hill. "Akamaru, leave Hinata alone" he sighed as Akamaru jumped around the little fox. She was turning to circles to avoid the puppy's playful nips and pushes. She was tempted to play with him but with her sensei and friends watching it wouldn't be the best idea. The dog obediently stopped jumping around and instead sat on the ground panting.

"Got bored then?" Kiba asked, Hinata wondered how he guessed, then remembered the word was still scratched into the ground next to her. Kurenai started to go through their match and explained where both boys could improve and after a short break sent the boys back to their training. Kurenai sat on the ground to watch them and to get herself closer to Hinata's level. The little fox watched Akamaru and remembered a throw away comment Sakura made the night before. Hinata rubbed at the ground to erase her message and wrote a new one. Kurenai noticed her scratching at the dirt and watched her write out, 'foxes have chakra?' with the message complete Hinata looked up at her teacher for an answer. Kurenai scratched her head, she didn't know.

"I'm not sure, but I don't see a reason why not. Dog's have chakra... " Kurenai waved her hand in the direction of the ninja puppy. "Why don't you try some basic chakra exercises and we'll both find out."

Hinata whined, most of the basic chakra exercises required handsigns. Hinata looked at her paws and back to Kurenai. The woman seemed to thinking the same as the fox as she was also looking at her paws, Kiba focused Akamaru's chakra for him with his own hands.

"Erm... try focusing chakra in general..." she corrected. Hinata made herself comfortable, crouching down on the ground and closed her eyes trying to remember the basics of chakra control. It was second nature to her now so it took a little bit of remembering.

"_It's so small..."_ Hinata thought to herself as she finally amassed the fox's energy after a long time of trying. She assumed it was because of its small size and that its natural chakra hadn't been cultivated. Hinata released the chakra she'd worked to gather and panted to herself, it was more exhausting then she thought. Suddenly aware of her surroundings Hinata looked around, her team mates were beside her tucking into lunch.

"I was starting to think you'd fallen asleep." Kurenai said noticing the fox panting. "So, do fox's have chakra?" Hinata nodded, her tongue flopped sideways out of her mouth as she gulped in air.

""Told you." Kiba grinned at Shino, the be-speckled boy ignored him. Hinata sniffled the air as she padded towards the tree the boys were leaning on.

"What?" Kiba asked as she sniffed around his backpack. He opened his bag as she prodded it, Hinata stuck her head into the bag and pulled out his canteen with her teeth. Kiba got the hint, he pulled out his tin cup and poured some juice into it before setting it on the ground in front of the panting fox. Hinata yapped happily and lapped at the cold juice. Kurenai chuckled behind them at the sight. Shino shared his sandwiches with the little fox after her little black nose twitched in his direction a little later. She scribbled a thank you in the dirt to the two of them. After they ate Kurenai took the two boys to practice drills, Hinata stayed by the tree with Akamaru. She was still tired from her attempt to gather chakra and it didn't take long for her and the puppy to curl up and fall asleep in the shade under the tree.

* * *

Naruto appeared in their training ground later in the afternoon.

"Have you guys seen Hinata?" he asked Kiba, after a quick glance around to make sure no one else was in the area.

"You lost her?" Kiba asked, looking to tease Naruto.

"Well she ..." he was about to say 'escaped' but after thinking that over, it wasn't the best word to use, "left a note. She must have jumped out the window." Naurto rubbed his head, squirming under the gaze of Hinata's teammates. Shino rolled his eyes at Kiba, turning to Naruto he told him,

"She's up there, under the tree with Akamaru. She's been here most of the day." he pointed towards the tree that their bags were under. Naruto glanced over at the two furry lumps nestled between the roots, one white, one red. He let out an audible sigh of relief.

"Is she asleep?" he asked squinting at the fox.

"Looks like it." Kurenai answered, she was still nearby gathering blunted kunai they had used for their drills. Kiba trotted over to help her.

"Hey Shino" Naruto started, the boy rose his eyebrow, curious. "Hinata likes cinnamon rolls doesn't she?" Shino nodded,

"It's her favourite." he answered bluntly. Naruto smiled, he'd thought so, on his way home he'd bought a pix-pack of mini-cinnamon rolls thinking she's like them.

"That will do for today" Kurenai said taking the kunai from Kiba and throwing them in a sack. Shino said his farewells and left Kurenai followed a moment later with the bag of equipment. Kiba lent on the tree and rubbed his shin, Shino had got him with a practice kunai, sure it was dull, but it was still a solid lump of metal.

"You alright?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, just a bump." Kiba grinned. "Hey, look at that." he nodded in the direction of the two animals. Hinata was curled up in a little ball with her head on her tail and Akamaru was stretched out next to her with his head resting on her back. Both were sleeping soundly.

They decided to let the animals sleep and sat down to rest from their respective training sessions.

"You know there's something I forgot to ask yesterday..." Naruto started.

"What's that?" Kiba asked as he rolled up his trouser leg to check his shin.

"What's happening to Hinata's body?" the blond looked over at his friend.

"Oh... Tsunade came up with a bogus disorder to explain her coma to her family, not that her dad really cares. But Hinata's body will stay in the isolation unit in the hospital until Ino's dad comes up with something." Kiba explained, Kurenai had asked Tsunade about that that morning and she'd then told himself and Shino.

"By the way, thanks for looking after her. If I'd taken her home Mom's dogs probably wouldn't have let her near the house."

"It's no problem." Naruto stretched his arms above his head, his shoulders gave a satisfactory pop before he let them fall. Kiba chuckled to himself, Naruto looked over at him with a quizzical look.

"Honestly I don't think she minds that much either."

"Huh?"

"oh come on, you have to have noticed that Hinata likes y..." there was a sudden snarl and a scrabble of movement, Hinata had sunk her teeth into Kiba's shoe.

"Hey!" He rolled away, Hinata let go. "What was that about!" Kiba demanded of the fox. Hinata's ears flattened to her head and she whined. Why had she done it? Kiba was about to give away her secret crush but she could have barked at him, jumped on him, but why was her default reaction to bite him. Both boys stared at her, she shrank down on her haunches and whined. The silence was broken by Naruto's stomach growling.

"Erm... shall we..." he pointed over his shoulder towards the village. Kiba agreed as he looked at the teeth marks in his shoe, not deep enough to break his skin, just a nip. Hinata slinked over to him with her ears flat to her head still. She scratched "Sorry" in the dirt.

"I guess I should have kept my mouth shut." he muttered, rubbing his foot. Hinata tapped her paw on the word in the dirt and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Don't worry about it." Kiba smiled, "Makes me wonder though, what would you have done to me if you were human?"he joked. Hinata didn't find that funny. She would have stuttered an interruption and probably fainted as well. The boys started up the hill towards the village, Hinata and Akamaru followed behind.

* * *

They stopped at the small cafe at the top of the hill. This was a favourite stop for most shinobi on their way to, from, or taking a break from training. It was outside the village but on the edge of the majority of the training grounds making it convenient and the food was tasty making it perfect. The group entered and took a table near the back, most tables had separators allowing private conversations usually for teams discussing tactics to use during training. They however chose it to allow them to speak to Hinata with out raising eyebrows. Hinata jumped onto the bench and sat near the wall, Naruto sat beside her and Kiba took the seat opposite. Hinata glanced at the menu that was propped up against the salt shaker, she listened to the boys talking about what they wanted while she looked.

"Oy, get that animal off the seat" barked a stern looking woman, she pointed her pencil at Hinata and glared over her glasses.

"Sorry..." muttered Naruto to both the waitress and to Hinata as he gave her side a gentle push. Hinata grudgingly hopped down to the floor under the table with Akamaru.

"That's better, now, what do you fancy?" she cheered up and hovered her pencil over the little notepad. The boys placed their orders but Hinata couldn't hear them. She sat down and looked about the cafe. Near the entrance she saw Lee and Tenten talking about something, Tenten laughed, Neji stepped out of the booth behind them. He didn't find Lee's joke funny. Neji said something then turned to leave. He was followed out by his teammates.

"_I wonder if he even worries about me..." _ Hinata thought to herself.

Naruto's feet shuffled suddenly and more feet appeared under the table. Hinata jumped over them out from under the table to avoid getting her tail stepped on.

"Oh!" there was a shout of surprise at her appearance. Hinata looked up at the newcomers. It was Ino, Shikamaru and Chouji. Seemingly just finishing their own training. They had spotted Naruto and Kiba and joined their friends. Shikamaru and Chouji looked at her in surprise and Ino looked at her with a hint of guilt in her eyes.

"That's just Vixen, Naruto's new pet." Kiba quickly explained. Chouji reached down and scratched her head for a moment then sat back up straight to talk to the rest of them. Kiba, Naruto and Ino shared a glance at this.

"Here we go." the waitress chimed returning with Naruto and Kiba's meals. After she put their plates on the table she knelt down and put four bowls on the floor. Two full of milk, one filled with diced pork the other with chicken mixed with gravy and kibble. Akamaru dove right into the pork bowl.

Since many shinobi had animal familiars the cafe ended up stocking meals suitable for animals. Their only rules was if the animal made a mess the owner had to clean it up and they were not allowed on the seats or tables. The others placed their orders and started up a conversation. Hinata sniffed at the bowl, the chicken smelt tasty. She gave the gravy an experimental lick. It was good. Akamaru was eating his meal with such gusto the bowl started to slide across the floor. Hinata ignored him and picked at the chicken in her own bowl.

After all meals were eaten the teens started talking and making jokes over the table. Hinata had curled up under the table and listened to them talking. She felt left out. She couldn't draw Naruto's attention without raising suspicions from the others that didn't know about her. Another rumble of laughter sounded above her. Hinata scowled, they'd been here now for the better part of an hour. Out of hunger she ate the bowl given to her and drank the milk but no one had so much as looked at her after Chouji petted her. Normally patient, Hinata found her temper starting to fray. She stood up and prodded Naruto's shin with her paw. He glanced under the table at her.

"What's wrong?" some one asked.

"I think Vixen is getting a little restless..." Naruto answered. "Guess it's time to go."

Ino and Shikamaru got up to let Naruto out of the booth. Hinata jumped over the sleeping Akamaru and trotted out from under the table.

"I'd better go too." Ino said as Shikamaru returned to his seat. The others bade farewell to Ino and Naruto, Chouji bent down to pet Hinata again. As soon as they left the cafe, Hinata prodded Ino's leg. She lent down to scoop up the fox and held Hinata in her arms as they entered the village.

"No updates yet, but dads been in the clan archives since Tsunade asked him to look into this." Ino spoke with a glance at Naruto, in the crowded streets it would not look good for her to be talking to the fox in her arms.

"Nothing at all?" Naruto groaned. Hinata sighed and put her head on Ino's arm, her hind legs dangled below.

"Sorry," this time she talked to the fox. Hinata squirmed in Ino's arms, the blond put her down.

* * *

Ino soon left them, promising she'd ask her dad for any updates. Naruto and Hinata headed back to his flat. Hinata sat at the corner of the kitchen corner for a moment as Naruto pulled shopping out of his bag and started putting it away. Naruto muttered to himself about things he forgot to buy. Hinata padded over to the bed and jumped up to her spot on the windowsill. The window was still open from earlier so she sat outside and watched the people in the street below.

"Are you okay?" Hinata jumped at the sudden voice and nearly toppled off the sill. Naruto struggled to suppress the smirk as Hinata tried to compose herself. She growled softly at him.

"Sorry," he muttered made himself comfortable on the bed, "What's wrong?" Hinata shook her head and nibbled at her paw to get an itch. "Really what's wrong?" She paused mid chew and looked up at him. His striking blue eyes watched her closely. She felt uncomfortable under his gaze and tried to avoid meeting it. She was sure if she wasn't covered in fur she'd be bright red with embarrassment.

He laid his head on the windowsill to look directly into her face again, she unwillingly took a step backward, off the sill. Hinata's hind legs scrabbled at the wall while her front paws clung to the window. Naruto grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, pulled her inside and put her on the bed, all the while laughing his head off.

That pretty much took all seriousness out of the atmosphere. Naruto told Hinata about his training session, complaining loudly that Sasuke made him look bad. He glanced at her and smiled. As Hinata had been listening her head tilted to the side and one of her ears lay flat to her head, the other pricked up. Noticing the position she was in she quickly straightened up.

"Oh, that reminds me." Naruto sat up and pushed himself off the bed, "I got you something earlier." He gently picked her up and placed her on the table before going into the little kitchen area. Hinata stood on the edge trying to see what he had, but his body blocked her view. He returned to the table with a plate held above her head.

"Here you go" he said and with an over the top dramatic flourish he set the plate on the table. Two of the mini-cinnamon rolls he'd bought were cut up on the plate for her. "I saw them and remembered that you liked them" he said. Hinata barked happily then sniffed at the cut up buns.

"Now, I have work to do..." Naruto muttered and pulled out his usual pile of textbooks to read up on different techniques. Hinata chewed on the mini rolls before perching on the edge of the table and watched Naruto with his text books spread out on the floor. He muttered to himself and practised handsigns.

In the quiet, Hinata let her mind wander. Being a fox had been fun at first but now... now it started to annoy her. In the cafe earlier she felt invisible, admittedly she didn't talk much with the others but she would be included in the conversation. When the waitress called her 'That animal', it had hurt. Hinata shuffled into a more comfortable position and sighed to herself. There was something else that worried her, for one, why did she bite Kiba? Ever since she changed, Hinata had felt 'different', feelings she never felt before and didn't understand washed over her. The only feeling she could identify was the prang of fear that had started to swell in her chest.

* * *

"Dad?" Inochi looked up from the scroll he was squinting at. Ino placed a cup of tea on the desk and sat next to him, she lent over to look at the tiny writing on the scroll.

"Thanks" Inochi leant back to rub his eyes. He'd been in here most of the day.

"Hinata asked if there was any news?"

"Hinata asked?" the man turned to look at his daughter.

"Well Naruto did, but Hinata was there..." Ino shrugged.

"That makes more sense, but no... nothing yet. I found an occasion when one of our clan got himself trapped within another body." he waved his hand towards a yellowed scroll on the edge of the desk.

"How did they fix it?" Ino shuffled over to pick up the scroll, but her dad stopped her from picking up the fragile parchment.

"Since he was stuck in a human body it was a simple matter of carrying out the mind transfer technique on his own body. It's not possible in Hinata's case, for one she can't form handsigns and two she won't know the technique." He explained, Ino frowned and glanced around the room. The clan archives, a dark dry room where the records of the clan were stored. Her father had placed scrolls with anything helpful at the end of his desk. Including the one he'd pointed out, there was only two. It was taking a long time to go through the archives since no one else was to know about Hinata's predicament. Inochi rubbed his neck and flexed his shoulders.

"Well this one mentioned something about the first Yamanaka to use the mind transfer on animals so I was hoping to find something in here." he indicated the scroll spread across the desk. "but whoever was the clan scribe at the time was a bit obessed with the details of everything. He also writes so damn small its hard to make out a few of these words." he prodded at a kanji character on the page. Ino leant over, she squinted her eyes trying to make it out. The strokes where so close together that she had to draw the desk lamp closer to the scroll to make it out.

"See what I mean..."

"Yeah... Is this what you meant about the use of mind transfer on animals. Ino pointed to one of the few kanji she could make out easily , it read 'dog'.

"I think so, only one way to find out." Inochi sipped his tea and hunched back over the scroll, muttering to himself as he drew his finger over the words. Ino sat back, her dad didn't like people hanging over his shoulder when he was concentrating.

'Soon Hinata', she thought to herself, 'we'll figure it out soon'.

* * *

Something stirred in the night. Hinata woke with a start and stared towards the source of the noise. A rustle from somewhere outside Naruto's bedroom window. It was so quiet that she was sure human ears would not have heard it. Slowly she uncurled herself from her laying position on Naruto's pillow and crept carefully around his head, not wanting to wake him. Quietly she jumped onto the windowsill and looked out into the moonlit street, searching for what was causing the sound. She saw it. In the moon light, a small shadow cast across the fire escape below. As soon as she saw it her body tensed and sank to the floor. The noise stopped. Her ears, flat against her head, strained for any sign of the scratching sound. Hearing nothing she slowly raised a front paw and placed it silently outside the window. She carefully shifted her weight forward then moved her back paw in the same way. After each step she froze to listen, her eyes didn't leave the shadow, the shadow bobbed and the scratching resumed. After a view choice steps she was able to look over the edge of the windowsill. There on the metal ledge was a small mouse sitting up on its hind legs, its nose twitched endlessly as it sniffled the air, its head swept the area. Once content that there was no threat the mouse got back on all fours and nibbled at a crust of bread that had been thrown out for the birds. Hinata watched the mouse intently. She moved her paws to a more secure footing. The mouse suddenly stopped and got back up on its back paws again. Hinata froze, not even daring to blink. The trees that lined the street rustled as a breath of wind blew over them. The wind brought the sent of the mouse up to Hinata, her nose twitched to take in the scent. She was downwind, the mouse wouldn't smell her.

After a moment the mouse got back on its paws, grabbed the bread firmly in its teeth and started to scurry towards the ladder. Its progress was impeded with the large chunk of bread. Hinata's eyes widened. There was a sudden rush of excitement, Hinata's hind legs suddenly tensed and she leapt forward. She landed with her front paws on top of the mouse. The mouse let out a squeak and dropped its bread. It wriggled under Hinata's paws and managed to squirm free. It scurried towards a hole in the wall. Hinata twisted around and swiped at the mouse. It was knocked from its feet and Hinata seized it in her jaws. The mouse struggled and squeaked, its legs clawing at the air. With a snap bite the mouse fell limp. Hinata flicked her head to get a better grip on the mouse, then she jumped back up onto the windowsill and crouched down.

Suddenly she stopped. What was she doing! Hinata was terrified of mice, but now she was sitting here with one in her mouth and about to eat it. She dropped the mouse with a soft thump and stared at it. The fear she felt earlier in the day returned. First it was biting Kiba and now she was hunting small animals. Naruto grunted and rolled over in his sleep. The sudden movement startled Hinata. She jumped a few feet in the air and turned to look at the boy. Hinata tried to slow her breathing but with little success. Looking at the mouse she felt a sudden prang of guilt. She'd have to hide it. The idea of putting it back in her mouth made her gag. She crept back into the room and into the kitchen. Fishing into the bin she got one of the plastic wrappers from the mini-cinnamon rolls and ran back out the window. She pushed the mouse into the plastic wrapper with her paw then picked it up at the corner. Jumping down the fire escape she dropped down into the ally. Running across the street she hopped through the railings and into the park. Hinata trotted to the nearest tree and gently placed the mouse on the ground. She dug at roots until she had a neat hole. She lowered the mouse into the hole.

'I'm sorry.' Hinata thought and pushed the dirt back into the hole covering the mouse. She sat there for a moment then retreated back to the ally.

She spent the rest of the night on the windowsill trying to think what had possessed her to hunt the mouse in the first place. Things where starting to go out of control.

End of chapter 4

* * *

Hope you enjoyed it folks ^.^

I've done a little work on the next chapter while i was onna roll so hopefully i'll get it up sooner


	5. Chapter 5: Attack of the OneTailed Fox

_Told you I'd get it out quicker this time ^.^_

_Had real problems with the title on this one... well anyway enjoy_

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* * *

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**Chapter 5**

**Attack of the One Tailed Fox**

Inochi yawned as he pushed open the door to the archive room. He'd given up the night before when the tiny writing on the scroll started to blur together. With a cup of coffee in hand he sat back down at the desk and pulled the record of animal mind transfers toward himself. This scroll was written four generations ago, the fragile parchment and tiny writing just made the process more tedious. Finally it started to get into the details of the technique's development. The first human to animal mind transfer was an accident, and according to the records the shock of realisation broke the transfer. The clan records indicated that the shinobi worked on perfecting the technique since the accident, mostly testing it on dogs. The records of the testing appeared less and less as time passed in the records. The scribe focused more on internal politics of the clan. Inochi groaned, he rolled the scroll out further and started skimming over the text. The next mention of the animal transfer was almost three years after the accident according to the date on the scroll, and it was mentioned because the technique had been deemed too dangerous and was forbidden.

"Forbidden? They've been teaching it for years..." Inochi frowned in confusion and returned to the scroll. What followed was an extended and detailed record of the testing process. The main problem with the original attempts was that when it did work the duration of the transfer was extremely limited, almost a quarter of the time the same shinobi could stay in a human body. At first it was deemed a great success and it was taken into consideration to become a clan wide technique as it was in the present. As Inochi read on he started to wonder, why was it banned in the first place.

"Dad" Inochi looked up, Ino was in the door with a cup of tea in one hand and a plate of sandwiches in the other. "You've been in here all morning, here eat something." She set the plate on the table along with the tea. Inochi rubbed his eyes and reached for the tea.

"I think I might be on to something here..." he muttered looking back at the table. "Seems that transferring into an animal used to be banned not long after it was created."

"But we use it all the time." Ino objected

"I know, but it says here that it seemed to work fine...wonder what happened..." Inochi sipped his tea as he ran his finger over the tiny print, he paused mid-sip and frowned, his finger retraced the same line three times. Gulping the tea he put the cup down and snapped up the scroll. Bringing it closer to the light. His frown deepened as his eyes darted up and down the page.

"What is it?" Ino stood up and tried to look over his shoulder but the writing was too small.

"Time to talk to the Hokage." Inochi suddenly stood up, he marked the place in the scroll and rolled it up.

"What did you find?" Ino followed him as he started on the way out the door.

"I want you to fetch Hinata. Bring her to the kage's office." Inochi ordered.

"Right..." Ino glanced at her watch, it was nearly two in the afternoon, Naruto would be at training.

* * *

"Kakashi-sensei, Where is Naruto?" Ino called to the silver haired man sitting at the base of a tree with a book held up to his nose. Kakashi looked up over his book at the blond.

"Mind if I ask why?" he asked sounding uninterested.

"Tsunade-sama wants him" Ino said quickly, Kakashi's eye scanned her for a moment.

"He's running the obstacle course with Sakura and Sasuke." he pointed to the far end of the training grounds where a number of wooden structures made up the course. Ino muttered a thanks and sprinted down to the course. Naruto and Sakura were seated on a rock watching Sasuke run the course, Sakura held a stop watch.

"What are you doing here Ino." Sakura demanded of the blond, "Come to watch Sasuke train?"

"I'm not as sad as you billboard brow!" Ino snapped, as Sakura choked out a retort Ino turned to Naruto. "My dad got a lead on the … um... project we're working on."

"Really?" Naruto stood up to face Ino.

"Yeah, Dad sent me to get Hi... you." she quickly corrected herself, "Lets go."

"Wait a minute!" Sakura grabbed Naruto by the neck of his jacket. "What's going on here? You've been hiding something from me for a week." Guilt flitted across Naurto's face, confirming Sakura's suspicions.

"We can't tell you" Naruto muttered.

"Says who?" Sakura asked letting go of his jacket.

"Tsunade-sama" Ino answered. "We'll tell you once its over but we really got to go" Ino jerked her thumb over her shoulder. Naruto nodded and the two ran off without another word to an annoyed Sakura.

"What was that about?" Sasuke asked coming up behind her.

"I have no idea..." Sakura muttered.

"Where's Vixen?" Ino asked as they jogged.

"She's with her team. I dropped her off there this morning." Naruto answered. The two skidded to a halt near Kurenai, the jounin glanced at them.

"What's wrong?"

"Where's Hinata?" Ino asked.

"Up there, why?" Kurenai nodded in the direction of a tree standing on its own where the team stored their bags.

"Dad wants to talk to her." Ino replied.

"Someone should, she's been very distracted today..." Kurenai trailed off with a frown on her face.

"I'll get her." Naruto said and jogged to the tree.

"Is it good news?" The jounin asked.

"I don't know, dad hasn't told me anything yet." Naruto returned with the little fox in his arms.

"Lets go" Naruto said, and they started off towards the village. Kurenai chewed her lip, she was fighting with herself on whether to follow them or not. If Inochi had found something to help she wanted to know, but if she was not asked to attend perhaps its was not something that shouldn't be common knowledge just yet.

* * *

Hinata bobbed uncomfortably in Naruto's arms as he ran up the stairs in the kage tower two at a time. They finally slowed down as they came to the door of the kages office. When they entered they saw Inochi and Tsunade bent over the old scroll. They looked up when the teens entered.

"Ino said you found something." the boy said.

"I think so..." Inochi told them. Naruto stepped forward and set Hinata on the Kage's desk, the fox adjusted herself and sat down on the corner.

"Are you doing alright?" Tsunade asked Hinata. The fox nodded. "Good, I think its time you told us what you found Inochi." The blond man nodded.

"In this record I found a detailed account of the first attempts of a Yamanaka to transfer into an animal's body. The first attempts had limited success but problems arose when less experienced members of the clan tried it. According to this," He pointed to a line of text in the scroll, "there was an accident with a similar circumstance to this." Hinata turned her head to look at the words he pointed at, she struggled to read the whole thing but she just put that down to the small writing.

"A genin who had not perfected the human to human mind transfer attempted to carry it out on a cat. An animals mind is vastly different from a humans and is therefore much more difficult." Ino nodded behind him.

"The genin was not experienced enough to do it correctly and somehow managed to trap himself in the cats body. He was unable to undo the jutsu because he couldn't create the handsign." Hinata glanced at her paws, that sounded about right.

"What happened to him?" Ino asked.

"Well according to this, the older clan members managed to devise a seal." Inochi paused as he read the next part of the text. "It was designed to draw out and seal the human consciousness and then it's to be released into the empty body." he quoted from the page. Suddenly Inochi's face fell.

"What?" Tsunade demanded. "Didn't it work?"

"They don't know, they never got to try it..." Inochi said, his frown deepened as he read the next few paragraphs. Hinata whined loudly and stepped forward scanning the text herself. As she looked over the page Hinata started to wonder if it was even written in Japanese, she couldn't read it.

"Why didn't they try it, was it dangerous?" Naruto asked sounding worried.

"They left it too late..."

"What do you mean too late?" Tsunade asked.

"The longer he was in the cat's body the more his mind started to degrade..." Inochi said reluctantly. Hinata's eyes widened, she reared up on her back paws and barked.

"As effective as the Mind transfer technique is, it can never entirely overpower the body's own mind. Given enough time the host mind will become dominant again. In the normal instance of this the jutsu is broken but in this case with the link between body and mind broken his consciousness just 'faded away'"

Hinata turned in circles on the Hokages desk, looked between the faces in the room. Her eyes were wide and her fur puffed up.

"We won't let that happen to Hinata right." Naruto said loudly, Hinata stopped her panicked pacing and felt a sudden surge of gratitude to him.

"Does it say how they made the seal?" Ino asked.

"Not in detail but there's enough there that with a little trial and error we can recreate it." Hinata grabbed the brush that was propped up in the ink well in her mouth and on a blank piece of paper she wrote, 'har... hrr... hury.' Getting frustrated she spat out the brush and barked.

"I think you'd better make a start on that now." Tsunade looked at the attempts to write with worry on her face. Hinata whimpered on the desk, her brown eyes looked watery. If she'd been human she'd have been in tears.

"I'd like permission to tell a few more members of my clan about the situation." Inochi started, "This seal is very complicated, the more people we have working on it the faster we can eliminate variations of the seal" Tsunade nodded and Inochi scooped up the scroll and strode from the room. Hinata continued to whimper on the desk, Naruto scooped the fox up to try and comfort her. She buried her head into his chest.

"I think you'd better take Hinata home." Tsunade said quietly over the cries of the fox. Naruto nodded, he adjusted his jacket around Hinata as she quivered. "Naruto, keep a close eye on her." Tsunade added as she looked at the blotted misspelt words.

Tsunade dismissed them not long after. Hinata didn't attempt to get out of Naruto's arms but just buried her head into the crook of his arm, she was shivering violently. Ino glanced from the quivering lump of fur to Naruto. He had a deep frown on his face.

"How long do you think it will take your dad you figure out the seal?" He asked.

"I don't know, if he's getting help from a few more members of the clan maybe soon." Ino said rubbing her neck, she gently patted Hinata to get her attention. One of the brown eyes peaked out from the folds of Naruto's jacket, it was still watery. "I'm going to help my dad, we'll get you back to normal soon, I promise." Ino forced a smile, Hinata reached her head forward and nudged Ino's chin with her snout. Ino couldn't help scratching the fox on the head, with a nod at Naruto she spun on her heel and strode away towards the Yamanaka clan compound.

Naruto wasn't sure it Ino was confident with her promise, but it seemed to give Hinata a bit of a morale boost, she wasn't shaking as badly as she was a moment ago.

"Should we go tell Kurenai?" Naruto asked looking down at Hinata in his arms. She dropped her gaze to the ground, after and moment she glanced back up to him and nodded. "Alright."

Naruto made to put Hinata down but she snuggled further into his jacket, he chuckled and hoisted her into a more comfortable position and started to walk towards the training grounds.

* * *

Naruto explained the situation to team 8 while Hinata sat next to them, she really wasn't listening to them, her thoughts were on the night before.

"So Hinata will revert into an animal?" Kiba asked. Naruto rubbed his neck,

"That's the the gist of it... Ino's dad is working on that seal now, Ino went to help him." he told them. Kiba fiddled with his watch nervously.

"I'm sure Inochi will come come up with the right seal in time." Kurenai said reassuringly.

"Speaking of time, did that scroll say how long Hinata would have?" Shino asked.

"No it didn't..." there was a sudden blur of red and a jiggle of a bell next to the group. Hinata had pounced on the spot of light reflected from Kiba's watch. Kiba moved his arm and the little spot of light moved across the grass. The fox scurried after it.

"Hinata?" Kurenai gasped. The fox suddenly stopped and glanced up at them. The four of them looked at her with concern on their face. Hinata hung her head as she realized what she had just done. The flash of light caught her eye and she watched as it shook on the grass, before she knew what she was doing she'd pounced after it. This was a bad sign if she was now getting distracted by 'shiny' things. Hinata whimpered and walked back to her friends. She lay on the ground between her sensei and Naruto. They watched for a moment with only Hinata's whines breaking the silence.

"Tsunade told me I should take her home until Inochi comes up with something..." Naruto told them.

"Perhaps its for the best." the older woman told him, she pushed herself to her feet and said, "I'm going to check in on Yamanaka, please look after her." and with that the jounin left them.

Naruto scooped Hinata off the ground and stood up himself, Kiba and Shino followed.

"I'm going back to my flat." he told them.

"I'm coming too, I want to make sure Hinata is alright." Kiba announced, Shino nodded beside him. Hinata barked and reached over to Shino, giving his hand a lick.

"I think Hinata would like that." Naruto said and the three boys started their walk to Naruto's home.

* * *

Kurenai knocked at the door, it was answered by a frazzled looking Ino.

"How's the research going?" the woman asked.

"Dad's in the study with a few others, they've tried a few combinations but as far as I know they haven't got anything yet." Ino answered, she stepped back into he house to clear the way for Kurenai to come inside. Kurenai stepped inside and followed Ino into the house and through to the living room. A dozen men and woman were sitting around the room. Torn and crumbled paper littered the floor with failed seals. Inochi saw her enter, he straightened up from his work and beckoned the woman over.

"Making progress?" she asked again.

"Slowly" he replied and waved his hand towards the coffee table that had a large half drawn seal on it. The centre of the scroll was blank "That's the seal we intend to use but we haven't got a core to it yet..." he nodded at the piles of discarded paper.

"Inochi..." Kurenai started,

"Hmm?" the man looked up from his latest attempt.

"How long do you think we have left?" she asked seriously.

"Honestly... I don't know. When I was in the hokage's office Hinata struggled to write."

"Well she doesn't have hands to write with." Kurenai said.

"That's not what I meant. She's lost her ability to write and I'm going to assume that she can't read any more either." Inochi said, Kurenai frowned at him. "If it keeps up like this eventually she won't be able to understand us and after that..." he trailed off.

"I should let you get back to work." Kurenai said and stood to leave.

"Right," Ino leant back over the seal he was working on, Kurenai looked back as she left the room, Inochi scowled and tore up the paper before tossing it over his shoulder. He pulled a fresh page towards him and started over.

* * *

On the way back to Naruto's they had stopped into the training ground cafe for a takeaway dinner and now they sat in the flat with their food. Naruto and Kiba sat on the bed, Akamaru was on the floor, Shino sat at the table and Hinata sat on her favourite spot on the windowsill. After they had eaten they tried playing a board game to take their minds off things but every now and again Hinata would get distracted and on more than one occasion ended up chasing the dice or game pieces. When ever she realized she was doing this it just made her upset again. They abandoned the board game and now sat in the flat talking about random things.

As the night drew on Shino told them he had to leave, he apologised to Hinata and left. Kiba glanced at Naruto worriedly as Hinata paid no attention to the farewell. She sat on the windowsill chewing an itch on her paw, her tail tip twitched from side to side. Not long after Kiba too decided it was time to go. He tapped Hinata on the back to get her attention, she jumped at the sudden touch but looked around at him.

"I have to go too, I'll see you tomorrow" Hinata just tilted her head at him with a quiet squeak. Kiba again glanced at Naruto, picking up his sleeping puppy he turned to the blond.

"Keep a close eye on her." Kiba gave the confused looking fox one last glance then left the apartment. Naruto started to clean up the left overs from the meal. By the time he'd cleaned up Hinata had curled up into a ball and fallen asleep at the end of the bed. Naruto got changed and pulled his blankets aside. The movement woke Hinata, she glanced at him with half lidded eyes. She yawned widely, showing off her teeth and scratched her ear with her back paw. Naruto reached over and stroked her back. Hinata licked his hand and settled back down with a loud sigh. Naruto stroked her for a short while before laying down, pulling his blanket over him and turning off the bedside light. Once he got comfortable he shut his eyes and waited for sleep. He felt light footsteps padding up the bed then a wet nose sniffing at his ear. Hinata settled down and lay her head across Naruto's neck. Naruto smiled to himself, he reached up and wrapped his arm around her tiny body, Hinata gave Naruto's chin a lick and settled back on his neck to sleep.

* * *

The Yamanaka's held their breath. The dozen pairs of eyes were on Inochi as he carefully drew the last symbols on the parchment. This was the last two hours worth of effort from five of the clan members. It was one of last combinations that they could come up with that would safely draw out the human mind from the animal. Inochi lifted his brush off the page and caught the end in a tissue to avoid drips.

"There, that should do it." He said with a rush of released breath.

"Time to test it then." two others lifted the seal carefully to a cleared space on the ground on the other side of the room. Inochi leant back, this would be the ninth seal they tested tonight, the last two looked promising but the seal broke not long after the initial extraction. If that happened during the real thing it would be disastrous, Hinata's consciousness would be lost forever.

"It worked!" Inochi opened his eyes and looked over,

"Start the timer" he told them. It was a matter of waiting now. An hour later the seal still held strong. "That's long enough, We'll do the extraction from the fox in the hospital to reduce the amount of time for the transfer." Inochi rubbed his eyes, he was exhausted.

"Maybe you should get some sleep Dad." Ino nudged his shoulder, "We'll need you to be alert when we do this."

"I know, but I have to complete the seal first." he waved his hand at the semi-complete seal on the table. Inochi pushed himself off the chair and started the long process of drawing out the seal one more time.

* * *

Naruto awoke to his alarm, he thumped the snooze button and snuggled deeper into his pillow. On the next ring of the alarm he noticed something was missing. Rising up from the pillow he looked around his room. Hinata was nowhere to be seen. The depression on his pillow was still slightly warm, so she wasn't long gone.

"Hinata?" Naruto threw off his blankets and jumped out from bed. He checked his small bathroom, the cupboards in the kitchen, he even lay flat on his stomach to look under the bed. "Hinata" he called again and strained to hear her little bell. Nothing. Naruto rubbed his head, where could she be? He felt the cool breeze on his face as he tried to think.

"Breeze?" Naruto paled and looked back at the bed, the window was open.

"Kiba!" Naruto skidded to a halt at the village gates. The other members of team eight were standing there, Kurenai had a large smile on her face and had been talking to the two boys.

"Naruto, we have great news. Inochi has cracked it. We can get Hinata back into her body again." She explained quickly.

"Where is Hinata?" Shino demanded looking at the ground around Naruto's feet.

"That's just it, I don't know." Naruto panted.

"What!" the three shouted causing Naruto to jump backwards.

"She must have sneaked out the window during the night." he rushed to explain.

"You left it open!" Kiba demanded,

"I didn't know it was open" Naurto shrank under the stern gaze of the other three.

"Damn it. Shino, go tell the Hokage about the situation, I'll go tell Inochi to get set up at the hospital. You two find Hinata and bring her to the hospital as soon as you can." Kurenai ordered as she started off back into the village.

"Where do we start?" Naruto asked Kiba as they ran into the village,

"Under your window, Akamaru should be able to pick up her scent from there." Akamaru barked and ran in front of them. Under Naruto's window Akamaru sniffed around to try and get Hinata's scent, he circled the bins twice and ran off to the other end of the ally.

"He's got something!" Kiba shouted and sprinted after the puppy with Naruto close behind. Akamaru ran down a few streets then stopped near a fence. The puppy turned in circles then whined at Kiba.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"Gah... Akamaru lost the scent. She could be anywhere!" he threw his hands up.

"What's going on?" the two boys looked up. Shikamaru and Chouji were standing nearby.

"We need to find Vixen." Naruto said.

"Vixen, your pet fox?" Chouji asked.

"Yeah, have you seen her today?" Chouji shook his head whereas Shikamaru looked thoughtful.

"Blue collar with a bell right?" he queried.

"Yes."

"I think I saw her over in an ally near Eastway Lane. You really should keep that thing on a leash, it was rooting through rubbish bins. Oi, what's the rush..." Naruto and Kiba sprinted off as Shikamaru spoke leaving the two members of team ten standing in the street.

"She should be around here, sniff her out boy." Kiba said to Akamaru, the puppy barked and stuck his nose to the ground. He turned in a circle then ran off towards an ally way. He slowed down at the entrance and wagged his tail, he padded into the ally and barked. The two boys followed him in and looked around the ally. Akamaru barked again and trotted towards a knocked over bin. There was a rattle and a fox poked out of the bin with a jiggle of the bell, in its mouth was a half eaten pork chop.

"There she is!" Kiba shouted, Hinata stared at them for a second then bolted further into the ally.

"After her!" Naruto called Akamaru yipped excitedly and followed the fox.

Hinata darted down back alleys and wiggled under fences until she came to a dead end. She turned to face the entrance. Akamaru trotted down the ally towards her with his tail wagging. Kiba and Naruto paused to catch their breath in the entrance. Hinata's heckles raised and she dropped the pork chop as Akamaru got closer, she backed into the corner and bared her teeth.

"Akamaru no!" Kiba shouted at the dog as it tried to play with the fox. Hinata let out a savage growl and lunged at the dog. She kept close to the ground and jumped up at the dogs neck as it recoiled. Akamaru let out a pained yelp as she clamped down on him. Hinata shook her head as she gripped the dogs throat. She let go and sprinted under Naruto's outstretched arms as he dived for her.

"Akamaru!" Kiba ran into the ally and scooped up his dog. Akamaru whimpered and shivered in the boys arms.

"Is he okay?" Naruto asked. Kiba looked at the puppy's neck, gently he pushed the blood stained fur to the side.

"It doesn't look that bad, I'm taking him to sis. You get after Hinata."

"Right." Naruto turned to run,

"Naruto, be careful, she's gone feral." the blond nodded and ran after the sound of the tinkling bell. He chased her over fences and down streets, under hedges and up lanes. Each time he tried to grab her she would wriggle lose or he would recoil to avoid getting bit. He lost sight of her a few times but the jingling of the bell would give away her hiding place. The longer he chased her the more erratic her movements became and the more likely she was to attack him. Things were getting worse. He had to catch her and soon. Naruto dived for her again and grabbed her tail, with a loud snarl Hinata spun around and snapped at his wrist, he let go and pulled away but she managed to grab his jacket and rip it. Spitting out the scrap of orange cloth she ran off again. Naruto cursed loudly and looked at his arm. There was a shallow graze but his sleeve had protected him from further wounds. Naruto had an idea.

The boy pushed himself off the ground and ran after the fox, pulling off his jacket as he went. He wrapped his iconic jacket around his arm. He was running out of time and would probably only got one chance at this and for it to work he had to corner her. Hinata was barrelling down the street panting heavily, dodging and weaving between the legs of people in the street. Naruto ran after her and pulled out several kunai, maybe he could herd her into one of the dead end allyways. He waited until the crowd thinned then threw a kunai in front of the fox. Hinata skidded to a halt and changed direction to get away from the throwing knife. Naruto threw a few more and with the aid of a shadow clone steered her into a dead end lane. The fox's fur stood on end as she snarled loudly baring all her teeth. Naruto stepped forward to grab her but Hinata snapped at his foot and tore at his ankle. The shadow clone yelped and poofed into a cloud of smoke. The pop scared the fox and again she backed off against the wall still snarling. Naruto held his wrapped arm in front of himself offering her a target. He crept slowly closer and held his arm out at Hinata's eye level. She lunged forward and sank her teeth into the jacket. Naruto seized her by the scruff of the neck and held her firmly. The fox glared at him with hard brown eyes and he stared back, half wincing at the bite. The fox's grip suddenly loosened, her eyes widened.

"Hinata?" the fox whined and let go. She looked at him guilty and flattened her ears to her head. "We should get you to the hospital. Inochi found the seal to fix you." Hinata's ears perked up and she squirmed in his grip to try and get down but her held her tighter. "I don't wanna risk you losing it again..." she nodded and let him tuck her securely into the knook of his arm.

* * *

On his way to the hospital Naruto stopped by his apartment. Hinata had started to get uneasy in his arms and would growl lowly at him. The boy pushed the wriggling fox into the carrier cage and shut the door. Just in time too as Hinata started to lose her grip again and started to snap at Naruto's hands again. Naruto threw a towel over the carrier in an attempt to keep her calm but that didn't really work. As he ran over the rooftops to the hospital the fox shifted in the box, throwing her weight from side to side. The sudden shifts in the box nearly made Naruto over balance a few times. He jumped to the ground and ran into the hospital Shino was waiting for him just inside the door, he nodded at Naruto and beckoned him to follow. The two boys ran up to the third floor to the isolation ward. In the private room a large table had been set up in the middle of the room, to the left was Hinata's body in a hospital bed with numerous wires and tubes running into her arm. A number of Yamanaka clan members were standing about along with Kurenai, Kiba, Tsunade, Ino and Hana. Naruto glanced at the vet in confusion.

"I told Tsunade about Hinata getting feral and she suggested getting my sister here in case we had to sedate her." Kiba explained. As if on cue the fox growled and rattled the cage.

"Lets get started." Inochi unfurled a large scroll onto the table and the Yamanaka's positioned themselves around the table getting ready to use the seal.

"Put her up here" Hana pointed at a small table that would normally be used for meals for patients. Naruto hoisted the carrier up on to the table while Hana rummaged in her bag and muttered to herself,

"She was about 14lbs so that would mean she'd need about ..." she held up a bottle of clear liquid and nodded. While Hana prepared the sedative Kiba lifted the towel and glanced into the fox, he recoiled from the box as the fox snapped at the cage door.

"You'd better think again about the needle sis..." Kiba said.

"That's why I brought this" Hana turned around again and pushed a dart into a dart gun. Naruto looked at the gun and to the box.

"Is that really needed?" Kurenai asked, she too was eyeing the gun.

"'friad so" Hana said, "This little fox has a nasty bite. Now, distract her so I can get a good shot."

"How?" Naruto asked.

"Take the towel off and stand in front of the door." Naruto did as he was told and took the towel off the carrier cage and squatted down in front of the door. Hinata growled and glared at him, Hana poked the barrel of the dart gun into the rear of the cage and shot the dart into the fox's side. Hinata scrabbled around the cage, jumping and growling and nearly knocking the cage off the small table. It didn't take long for the frantic scrabbles to die down, the fox retreated to the back of the cage and sat down. Her head drooped until finally it lay on the floor and her eyes slid closed.

Hana opened the cage, reached in and gently pulled out the limp fox, careful to extract the dart from her side.

"Where do you want her?" Hana asked, Inochi stepped forward and took the fox and placed her carefully into the centre of the seal, making sure she didn't lie over any of the lines of the seal.

"I need everyone to back away and be silent, this is going to a delicate process"

End chapter 5

* * *

_possible titles for this chapter, i really ran out of ideas on this one .: _

_(fox you, I won't do what you tell me. Dances with foxes. Down the fox hole)_

_Tried to stick with the foxy puns but seems i was scrapping the bottom of the idea bucket tonight_


	6. Chapter 6: Freeing the Fox

First off, I'm sorry this took so long.

the good news though, after two years of unemployment and having to move back into my parents home, I have finally got a new job, a new house and I'm writing again ^_^

Enjoy!

* * *

Freeing the Fox

Everyone's eyes were on the little fox, asleep in the middle of the seal. Inochi took out a brush, dipped it in ink and carefully drew a number of symbols on the fox's fur. It was a painstaking process as the fox's fur was still sticking up in random places and was dirty in others. Another one of the Yamanaka's drew similar markings on Hinata's forehead. Naruto chewed on his lip as he watched, he glanced along the line of spectators each had concern on their faces.

"Alright," Inochi said as he drew the brush away from the fox. He grasped the end in a wad of tissue to catch any excess ink. He glanced over at the bed, the others had completed the symbols on Hinata's body. "Lets get started." Inochi handed the brush to Ino behind him then he took up his position in the circle of mind manipulators. The Yamanaka's around the table all carried out the same seal then slammed their chakra charged hands onto the edges of the scroll. The black characters on the scroll wavered slightly and were still. For a moment nothing moved. Naruto was about to voice his concern when he noticed the ink on the page was moving. The symbols shuddered as if being blown by a persistent wind. Suddenly they started slithering towards the little fox. Instead of disappearing under the fox as expected, the characters slid up and over the foxes fur, as if drawn to the symbols that had been drawn on the little body. The ink seemed to merge into one large, black, constantly moving mess on the creature. One by one the symbols broke away from the fox's head and returned to its place on the scroll and affixed themselves firmly back on the parchment. The process seemed to take an age. Naruto and the others had been shooed back against the door while the Yanamaka's worked. They held their breath as the sealing continued. More and more of the symbols separated themselves from the fox and merged back to the paper, including the characters that Inochi had drawn on to the fur. Finally all the ink had returned to the scroll.

"Switch" Inochi stated. Ino darted under her fathers arms and picked up the limp fox and lifted it out of the way. Inochi and three others gently lifted the scroll while two others lifted Hinata's head and threw the pillow out of the way. Ino cradled the fox in her arms, she backed into the corner out of the way as the scroll was carefully lifted from the table. With slow precise steps the scroll was moved toward the bed. At this moment, everything that made Hinata herself was contained in this fragile piece of parchment. Hinata's upper body was lifted up, the scroll was placed on the bed and Hinata was laid gently back down with her head in the centre of the seal, where the fox had been moments ago.

"Now comes the hard part." Inochi nodded at the other three Yamanaka's, again they ran through the complex handsigns and surged their chakra into the scroll.

Nothing happened. The characters didn't even waver like last time.

"Shit." Inochi snapped. Ino chanced a glance at the group against the wall they all looked horrified as they caught on that something was wrong.

"One more time" Inochi ordered, again they ran through the handsigns and channelled their chakra into the scroll. Again, nothing happened. Kurenai fell to her knees as her legs gave out, Shino and Kiba rushed to the side of their sensei, Hana and Tsunade bowed their heads and Naruto scowled and clenched his fist. He glared at the characters on the scroll as if they were at fault.

Inochi scoured the seal, what was going on? The seal worked. Why was it not unsealing? His eyes scanned the scroll, everything had gone back to its place. He glanced at the fox in Ino's arms. Even the characters he'd drawn onto it had left the creature and affixed themselves to the centre of the seal that was now under the teens head. He cast his gaze over the girls face. Her expression was blank. Her pale face was broken only by the large black symbol on her forehead.

"We're activating the wrong part!" Inochi shouted, suddenly everyone's attention was on him. "When we drew out her mind we changed the nature of the seal. The core of the seal is not on the scroll anymore."

"Hinata's the new core!?" Ino exclaimed.

"She'd better be..." Inochi muttered to himself, no one else heard him. Louder he said, "One more time."

Everyone in the room tensed as they once again they ran through the handsigns. This time they leant forward and channelled their chakra into the symbol on Hinata forehead. As soon as they touched it the character it turned blue and wavered. The Yamanaka's drew away as it pulsed, the ink on the scroll seemed to squirm and slowly started to drift towards Hinata, they converged on her head where the character was pulsing. Again the ink swirled dizzyingly before detaching itself and returning to the page. Once there the marks seemed to melt into an inky blob before the ink dried. At last the blue symbol on Hinata's forehead faded back to black and started to run.

"It's done." Inochi annouced.

"Hinata will be okay now?" Naruto demanded.

"We don't know." shrugged another of the Yamanaka's.

"You don't know!?" Kurenai exclaimed as Kiba and Shino helped her back to her feet. She glared at Inochi for an explanation.

"This was a delicate procedure based on speculation from a scroll from four generations ago. There is no certainty that it would work. The only thing we were sure of that it was not a good idea to leave her in the fox." he cast his hand over the creature still in Ino's arms.

"What happens now?" Shino asked.

"We wait until one of them wakes up." Tsunade answered, she had stepped forward to check on the teen, she wiped the running ink from her head before it clotted in the girls hair. "hmm, heart rates up a little but nothing out of the ordinary..." she muttered to herself.

"Ino, bring the fox here." Hana beckoned the blond over to her. Ino stepped around the bed towards Kiba's sister. Hana reached into the carrier box and rearranged Naruto's t-shirt so it padded the bottom of the cage, then took the limp fox and placed it carefully into the box. She closed the cage door and locked it, "Just in case" she explained. "We don't know what the fox's real behaviour is."

The Yamanaka's left the room with the exception of Inochi and Ino.

"How long do you think it will take?" Naruto asked, he hadn't left his place next to the door. Inochi shrugged, he felt strangely drained after the transfer. They waited, each giving the teenager glances from the corner of their eyes. Most of them had sat down on one of the two chairs in the room or on the floor itself. Hana excused herself as she couldn't leave the pet clinic in the hands of her assistant for too long. Roughly an hour after the sealing movement from the carrier cage caught their attention. The groggy fox tried to get to its feet, its head drooped and her eyes were half closed.

Naruto crouched down in front of the cage to glance in, the others leant over his shoulder. The fox looked up at them and for a moment it looked at Naruto.

"Hinata?" he chanced, the fox panicked, it tried to scramble away from the people watching, it only succeeded in pushing Naruto's t-shirt to the front of the cage. The fox growled lowly, but it was shivering. When Hinata was growling at them it was more savage and she actively attacked them, this time the fox puffed up its fur and tried to get away from them.

"I don't think that's Hinata..." Kiba muttered.

"You think?" Ino retorted.

"Perhaps we should cover the case" Shino intoned, he reached forward and pulled the towel down over the carrier to block out the fox's view of them. The fox's growling died down, every now and then there would be a little tinkle of the bell as the fox moved.

"Safe to say the fox is back to normal then..." Kiba said breaking the silence.

"Looks like it, so that's something at least?" Ino asked her father hopefully.

"It could mean one of two things. One, the seal working in extracting Hinata's mind, or two, … her mind faded." Inochi answered.

"The seal worked on Hinata after you used it on the fox so she should be okay." Ino prompted after seeing the worry on everyone's faces. Inochi didn't get a chance to answer as a moan from the bed got everyone's attention. Hinata's hand reached up and cupped her eyes shielding them from the light shining to the window.

Tsunade called for quiet as everyone piled Hinata with questions about her welfare.

"Out!" she ordered, this was met with protests from all sides."OUT!" Tsunade barked, the arguments died down and they reluctantly left the room with backward glances at the bed. Once the door was closed Tsunade turned her attention to the girl.

"Can you hear me?" she asked gently. The girl lifted her hand slightly and looked at the hokage. Her one visible pale eye looked dazed and after a moment she said,

"Woof" Tsunade smirked.

"I think Naruto's sense of humour rubbed off on you a little bit. How are you feeling?"

"The light's too bright..." Hinata said covering her eyes again. Tsunade drew the curtain blocking the light from the window, throwing the bed into a shadow.

"Better?"

"Yes, thank you..." Hinata started to sit up,

"Easy..." Tsunade stepped forward and propped the bed up for the girl. "Your body hasn't been active in a while. What's the last thing you remember?" The older woman grasped Hinata's wrist to check her pulse.

"Last thing... um..." Hinata screwed up her face in confusion as she tried to think. Her eyes drifted around the room, she looked dizzy as her head swayed from side to side. "I'm not sure, my head is...its all fuzzy." she cupped her head in one hand. She tried to remember what had happened but all she could think of was Naruto and his grin. She started to blush as she thought about it.

"You alright? Tsunade caught her attention,

"I'm alright, I … I'm just a little confused." She confessed,

"And tired too. Perhaps it would be better to let you rest today." Tsunade nodded to herself deciding for her. "Yes, I want you to rest tonight." Tsunade turned and picked up the carrier box. There was a scrabble and a bell chime from the box.

"What's that?" Hinata asked looking at the box in confusion.

"This is the little fox you were trapped in. Want to see?" Hinata wasn't really sure she wanted to. Tsunade put the carrier back on the table and rolled it over closer to the bed. She slowly lifted the towel to avoid startling the fox. Hinata ducked her head to get a better view the little fox was curled up at the back of the box. Its ears were perked high and its beady eyes peered over its bushy tail. Hinata had to admit the fox was really cute.

"She's calmed down a little bit. Anyway get some rest." Tsunade put the towel back over the cage and hoisted it up and left. Hinata could hear the buzz of conversation outside the door. It died down after Tsunade raised her voice.

Hinata lay back on the slightly raised bed, she felt so tired and her mind was a blur she wasn't entirely sure what had happened over the last few weeks. She found herself feeling around her bed at one point looking for her tail, it took a long time for her to realise that she shouldn't have one since she was human again. She blushed as she remembered cuddling into Naruto's neck at night. Smiling, she remembered how he talked to her when he didn't know it was her and wondered if he would open up to her like that again. Hinata sighed as she lay back on the slightly raised bed. Everything would probably go back to normal after this, she wouldn't be able to talk to him without blushing or fainting and Naruto would end up looking past her again. It was fun while it lasted, but nothing would have changed in the long run. Hinata tried to get out of the bed but her body protested too much. Her head was still spinning. Tsunade was right, she needed rest. She lay down and quickly fell back to sleep.

* * *

Naruto returned to his apartment after Tsunade told the group to leave Hinata alone for the night. He hadn't wanted to, but Tsunade was insistent that although she was fine, Hinata needed her rest.

He pushed the door open and walked into his small kitchen, he looked around the empty room and felt a small prang of loneliness. He had liked having someone to come home to, be it his little pet fox Vixen or Hinata in a foxes body. Now, his flat just seemed too quiet. After eating a quick dinner Naruto sat in his usual spot at the window, he couldn't see the hospital from here so he stared blankly at the Kage tower. Naruto absently turned the pet brush over in his hand as he thought.

* * *

Hinata woke from a restless sleep. Her muscles ached in protest from having lain still for so long. The room was dark save for a pool of moonlight cast upon the floor. Hinata slowly pushed herself up to look around the room. Empty. She should have expected as much, it was the middle of the night and this was a one bed room Tsunade moved her to

so that the 'dangerous infection' cover would work. She spent some time rotating her joints and neck to get feeling back into them.

Satisfied with the fading tingling sensation she drew the blankets off her legs and tentatively lowered her feet to the ground. Keeping hold of the bed for support Hinata made her shuffling way to the window to look out over the village. The village was bathed in faint blue moonlight, the windows where dark except for the odd one were someone was up late. Hinata noted that she could not see as well in the dark as the fox could. It felt strange to be so high off the ground again. Not just on the third story but from the tiled floor itself. Hinata looked at her hand snd gave it an experimental flex. Thumbs, she'd missed those. Glancing back out the

window she wondered if it was possible to see Naruto's apartment from here. She scanned the skyline for the twinkle of a light in the vague area of the apartment block, but Naruto would be sitting in the dark if he was awake at this time so it was pointless. Hinata turned back to the bed and crawled back under the covers. The bed seemed so small now that she took up the whole space instead of half the pillow.

* * *

The next morning Hinata was given a full exam by one of the doctors, checking blood pressure, reflexes, vision, hearing, chakra circulation even lung capacity. By mid afternoon she was finally given the go ahead to leave the hospital. Outside she was greeted by a very enthusiastic Akamaru, the puppy bounded around her legs and reared up, pawing at her thigh for attention. Hinata chuckled and picked him up, feeling a pang of guilt at the bandages on the dog's neck. Kiba was not far behind the pup and sauntered up with a grin on his face.

"How are you feeling now?" he asked, falling into step beside her. "Strange… but it might be because I haven't eaten in a long time." She chuckled "I had some soup in the hospital this morning but I want proper food" she tilted her head back to avoid Akamaru's licking as she spoke. Kiba agreed, and after setting the puppy down, they headed off to one of the nearby cafes.

"So you don't remember anything? Nothing at all?" Kiba asked through a mouth full sausage. "Nothing…" Hinata mumbled and poked her last dango ball around the plate with the stick. Her stomach churned uncomfortably, she wasn't sure if it was due to the heavy food or the embarrassing actions she'd carried out as Vixen that Kiba just told her about. It was probably better for her friends to separate her actions as the fox from her, especially the attack on Akamaru. She glanced guiltily at the puppy, he was sitting with his eyes just about peering over the table, watching her dango ball carefully. Hinata reached over and stroked the little dog, Kiba had informed her about the fox bite when he saw her looking at the bandages.

"Sorry about that…" she muttered and handed the dango ball to the pup. "Forgive me?" Akamaru devoured the tasty snack, yipped happily and licked at Hinata's face. She smiled and stroked the dog. Kiba swallowed his mouth full and spoke, "We still don't know what to do with the fox though." He speared another sausage.

"You still have her?" Hinata looked up. Kiba nodded and chewed quickly to answer.

"Yeah sis has her at the vet clinic. I was there this morning getting Akamaru checked. It looks so scared though, at least it's not as feral as we thought." He paused to drink, "Sis reckons it only went like that because it was going out of its mind with you in there. All paniky and stuff. It hasn't tried to bite anyone else, doesn't even growl just sits and whimpers if anyone comes near it."

"What are the options?" Hinata asked, she wasn't really sure why she cared about the fox's fate, it just seemed fair to ensure the poor thing was safe. Kiba shrugged,

"Maybe release it back into the wild… Perhaps Naruto would want to take it again…But the fox may not like that…" He added after a moments pause.

"It would probably be better for it to go back to the forest." Hinata said. The pair where silent for a moment, then Hinata stretched and stood.

"I should go and say thank you to Inochi" Kiba nodded an okay as she finished off the last of this meal, Hinata left enough money to cover her part of the check and headed out.

* * *

Hinata ran into Ino just outside the Yamanaka Household, the blonde looked to be coming back from training. She beamed widely when she saw Hinata and bounded forward to hug her.

"It's so good to see you up and about again!" Ino declared letting go of Hinata. "Sorry about the whole 'trapping your consciousness in the body of a fax' thing…" she added. Hinata smiled and assured Ino that it was okay. They went inside and Hinata gave her thanks to Inochi and the other members of the family that had helped. She stayed for a short time, while the Yamanaka's discussed the seal they had used to help her. She waited the proper length of time to be polite then excused herself and left. By now it was nearly evening and Hinata was tired, her body was still protesting after its prolonged stillness. On the way home she encountered someone she had hoped to avoid until the next day. Naruto was walking up the street shopping bag in hand and a glum expression on his face.

"Oh Hinata" He forced a smile. "Shino told me you were about."

"Hi Naruto" she blushed and glanced away. "Kiba told me that you took care of me when I was in the fox…" she mumbled, trying not to look him in the eyes.

"You don't remember? Oh yeah… Shino said you wouldn't… so you can't remember anything about staying at my place?" She shook her head and something along the lines of relief flickered across the boy's face, followed by something that looked like disappointment. Something twisted in Hinata's gut,

"Just because I can't remember doesn't mean that I'm not grateful for your help, Thank you Naruto" She bowed stiffly, her face was burning red.

"It's okay…" Naruto replied, they stood in awkward silence, Naruto with nothing to say and Hinata still avoiding his eyes. Somewhere behind Hinata the clock tower tolled out the top of the hour. "Oh, I should get going, I'll talk to you tomorrow Hinata" Naruto waved goodbye, fake smile plastered on his face again.

"Goodnight Naruto…" Hinata mumbled as the boy walked past her.

Hinata slid the door to her room closed behind her. She had managed to get home with nothing more than a snide remark from her father, she could handle that. She flopped on the bed and stared up at the ceiling. The orange glow of the setting sun crept along the roof until it faded and her room was left in twilight's semi-darkness. She couldn't help but think about Naruto's reaction when she told him she didn't remember. The look of shear disappointment on his face made the bottom of her stomach seem to fall out. Except for parts of the last few days Hinata remembered everything about her time as the fox. Bounding around with Akamaru at the training grounds, feeling left out under the table of the diner, the open and honest conversations with Naruto. He had bared his heart to his little pet only to find it was one of his friends and even then she had claimed not to remember. Hinata groaned and buried her face into her pillow. Naurto opening up to her was all she had wanted since she first met the boy, but when he finally did she denied it. She sighed and rolled over onto her front and tried to get some sleep, but every time she was about to drift off, his sad face entered her mind.

* * *

The next morning Hinata waited outside the vet clinic for Kiba's sister to arrive. Hana was surprised to see the Huyga girl but smiled in greeting anyway. "What brings you here Hinata?" She asked while unlocking the clinic door. Hinata followed her inside.

"I was hoping you'd let me see the fox" she explained while Hana rose the blinds in the front windows.

"I suppose I can arrange that. Do me a favour and put this out front" Hana waved her hand at the clinics dog shaped sign then disappeared into the back room. Hinata dragged the heavy wooden dog outside then followed Hana into the back room. The older girl was measuring out food portions into a number of bowls and mixing medication into a few of them.

"Vixen is over there, far from the dogs, poor thing doesn't know what's going on" she nodded her head in the direction of the smaller cages to the back of the room. Hinata went over while Hana started handing out food to the smaller animals in the cages. Hinata peered along the cages looking for the creature, passing over a few dozing cats and a shaky toy-yorkie pup she found her. She crouched down to get a better look. The little fox was sitting in the very back of the cage, its tail wrapped tightly around its body. Her deep eyes stared at Hinata over the thick fuzz of the tail.

"Shuffle over" Hana appeared behind Hinata, reached over to open the door and slid a bowl of food into the cage. The fox waited for the door to close again before raising its head and sniffing at the air Uncurling itself, the fox took a step closer and licked experimentally at the dish. Finding it satisfactory she settled in to eat the lot.

"Right," Hana dusted off her hands, "I have to go feed the bigger dogs in the kennels, I'll be back in a bit"

"Alright…" Hinata waited for her to go then turned back to the fox, slowly she reached her hand up in front of the cage door. Vixen paused mid-bite to watch her. Hinata opened the cage door, ready to grab if the fox made a run for it. The fox slowly resumed eating but kept her eyes on Hinata. Slowly Hinata offered her hand for the fox to sniff. At first she was ignored while the fox ate, then Vixen paused and sniffed at her hand. Happy enough the fox returned to eating up the last few bites and licking the bowl. The fox seemed much happier with a full belly and sat near the entrance of the cage. Hinata took her chance and drew her hand down the foxes back. At first the fox flinched away and whined, but Hinata tried again, this time just scratching behind the ears. The fox's ears flattened, Hinata was about to draw away but the fox leant into her fingers, seemingly enjoying the scratch. Hinata was petting the fox when Hana returned.

"Huh…now I wasn't expecting that." As she spoke the fox jumped and retreated to the back of the cage. "oops" Hana crouched down next to a frowning Hinata.

"You scared her…" the teen mumbled.

"Sorry about that," Hana tried to reach in to pet the fox but it ducked under her hand and scrabbled to the other side of the cage.

"Oh" Hana pulled her arm back out of the cage. "Let me try again." Hinata said more than asked. Hana shuffled over, out of Hinata's way. Again Hinata offered her hand for the fox to smell before attempting to pet her. Vixen sniffed Hinata's hand then gave it a lick, the fox lay down and let Hinata stroke its back. She got the impression that the little creature recognised her somehow.

"And I thought my family was good with animals." Hana chuckled and clapped Hinata on the back. Hinata offered a weak smile and closed the cage door before standing up. "So does this mean you'll want to take her as a pet?"

"No… my father would never allow it" Hinata replied sadly, "But I know someone who would."

* * *

Naruto scowled and tried again to remove the inky paw print on his table. Since it was his day off from training he decided he had better clean up the flat. Bed sheets had been changed, dishes washed, and laundry sorted, but this stain was not going with out a fight. He wiped away the soap bubbles to find the wood gleaming, but the paw print still smack dab in the middle of the table. Frustrated, Naruto threw down the scrubbing brush and flopped on the bed. His arm knocked into a box and it fell to the ground with a thud and spilling its contents all over the floor. Groaning he sat up to survey the mess. The pet bowls lay upside down on top of the grooming brush and some assorted toys were scattered across the floor. He slid to the ground, set the box the right way up and started putting the items back

inside. He smiled to himself as he picked up the little blue ball. He remembered rolling this around for his fox to chase, and then later how Hinata amused herself by batting it around the room. He chuckled then threw it and the rest of the toys in the box. His smile faded as he picked up the pet brush. There was still some fur caught in the bristles. He told the fox so many things as he brushed her fur, his hopes, his worries, a lot of things he would never tell anyone else,

she just sat there, listening and sitting contently on his lap. Then he found out about Hinata. He'd felt so embarrassed about the things he'd said at first but as Hinata stayed with him longer she seemed to really enjoy his company and would actively listen to him and give him reassuring nuzzles or pats with her little paws. That was over now though, Hinata couldn't remember any of that and Naruto would never be able to speak to anyone as openly again. Naruto grunted, disgusted with himself. He threw the brush back into the box and shoved it under the bed. He wouldn't let this get to him. He stood up and again tackled the stain on the table.

Just when he was close to putting his fist through the paw print there was a knock at his door. He opened the door to a slightly pink cheeked Hinata, who was staring intently at the floor.

"Hinata? What are you doing here?" He asked sounding surprised. Hinata was silent for a moment then took a deep breath.

"I wanted to thank you properly for what you did for me…and…you looked so lonely yesterday so I … erm.." she hesitated as Naruto frowned at the word 'lonely'. She couldn't find her words again so she ducked down to pick something up that was beside the door. Naruto peered out the door and saw a large cardboard box. He backed up into the flat and let her walk inside with the package. Hinata looked around the room it seemed so much smaller now. She set the box on top of the ink stained table and waited for Naruto to join her. He came around the table studying the box with curious eyes.

"What's inside?" he asked, Hinata gave him a shy smile and lifted the box away revealing a pet carrier with a fuzzy fox nose poking out of the door.

"Vixen!" Naruto grinned and knelt down to look into the box. The fox withdrew slightly but sniffed at the offered fingers. She gave Naruto's fingers a lick and returned to looking around through the bars.

"I thought she'd be all… I dunno… snarly and bity."

"Hana thinks that was just because I was in there too, she was scared. She's really a sweetheart" Hinata answered and opened the cage door. The fox took a few steps out and peered around the room. After a moment she hopped off the table and started sniffing around the room.

"Ha ha, I think she recognises her own scent in the room" Naruto laughed and watched the excited fox scurry around. He hurried to the bed, pulled out the box with the pet supplies, filled a bowl with water and another with dog food then set them on the ground. Then he rolled a few of the toys around the floor. Vixen lapped at the water for a moment then started batting around the blue ball. Naruto beaming widely as the fox scurried around.

"I remember everything." Hinata suddenly blurted out.

"What?" looked up at her, she was staring intently at the pet carrier and her face was turning steadily red. "What do you mean…'everything'?"

Hinata was silent for a moment, she seemed to be steeling herself. Taking a deep breath at last she started,

"I remember everything from the time I woke up in the forest until the morning I was put back in my body." She said, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" He asked.

"Because … it's kind of embarrassing… some of the things I did as the fox" she waved her hand at Vixen who was currently rolling around on the floor with a toy mouse.

"Oh… Then why tell me?"

"It only seems fair. You told me all those things," It was his turn to blush, "and I wanted you to know that I was listening. That and … if you need to someone to talk to again…I can …" she paused to shallow dryly, "I can maybe listen again…"

"Why would you do that…?" Naruto asked, misreading her hesitation for reluctance. Hinata fidgeted with the door of the cage, refusing to meet Naruto's gaze.

"You've always been kind to me and believed in me when I needed it." Naruto suddenly thought of the Chunin Exams. "And I want you know that I will be there if you need me too…" She trailed off, by now her face was bright red.

They stood in silence for some time, the only sound was little claws scrabbling around the floor. Vixen was chasing the ball again. She ran full pelt after it and swiped but missed, she over balanced and bumped into the coat rack. Naruto's heavy orange jumper fell off the hook and landed on her. Vixen yelped and thrashed about trying to get out from under the coat but couldn't manage it. Naruto knelt down and lifted the edge of the coat. Vixen lay underneath with a 'I meant-to-do-that' look on her face. Naruto picked up the fox and gave her a cuddle. Vixen licked his chin and seemed content to rest in his arms for the moment. Hinata watched the fox's bright eyes look around the room.

"I'd like that" He finally said. Hinata glanced up at his close-eyed grin. She cracked a smile and Vixen yapped happy.

Hinata felt a wave of relief and thought to herself, perhaps everything would be just fine after all.

End

* * *

Was it worth the wait? Sorry again...


End file.
